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Top 10 Most Stunning Women Athletic Runners
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Allyson Felix-
(USA) Runner 200 meter race and 4x400m relay: Allyson
Michelle Felix was born November 18, 1985.She is a track and field sprint
athlete, who competes internationally for the United States. Her specialty is
the 200 meter race,
winning the 2012 Olympic gold, two Olympic silver medals, and three world
championship golds. She also competes at the 100 meter and the 400 meter
distances, winning three
Olympic gold medals as a member of the United States' women's relay teams, two
at 4�400 meters and one as part of the world-record 4�100 meter team. Her three
gold
medals at the 2012 Summer Olympics are the most a female track athlete has won
since 1988. As a participant in the US Anti-Doping Agency's "Project Believe"
program, Felix is
regularly tested to ensure that her body is free of performance-enhancing drugs.
Born and raised in California, Felix is a devout Christian and the daughter of
Paul, an ordained minister and professor of New Testament at The Master's
Seminary in Sun Valley,
California, and Marlean who is an elementary school teacher at Balboa Magnet
Elementary. Her older brother Wes Felix is also a sprinter. Also running the 200,
he was the USA
Junior Champion in 2002 and the Pac 10 champion in 2003 and 2004 while running
for USC. Wes now acts as the agent for his sister. Felix describes her running
ability as a gift
from God, "For me, my faith is the reason I run. I definitely feel I have this
amazing gift that God has blessed me with, and it's all about using it to the
best of my ability."
Allyson Felix attended Los Angeles Baptist High School in North Hills,
California, where she was nicknamed "Chicken Legs" by her teammates, because the
five-foot-six, 125-pound
sprinter's body had skinny legs despite her strength. But Felix's slightness was
at seeming odds with her speed on the track and strength in the gym, where,
while still in high
school, she deadlifted at least 270 pounds. She credits much of her success to
her coach, Wes Smith.
Felix didn't discover her gift until she tried out for track in the ninth grade.
Just ten weeks after that first tryout, she finished ninth in the 200 at the CIF
California State Meet. In the
coming seasons, she became a five-time winner at the meet. In 2003 she was named
the national girls' "High School Athlete of the Year" by Track and Field News. As
a senior,
Felix finished second in the 200 at the US Indoor Track & Field Championships. A
few months later, in front of 50,000 fans in Mexico City, she ran 22.11 seconds,
the fastest in
history for a high school girl, though it could not count as a World Junior
record because there was no drug testing at the meet.
Felix graduated in 2003, making headlines by forgoing college eligibility to
sign a professional contract with Adidas. Adidas paid her an undisclosed sum and
picked up her college
tuition at the University of Southern California. She has since graduated with a
degree in elementary education.
At just 18, Felix finished as silver medalist in the 200 meters at the 2004
Summer Olympics, behind Veronica Campbell of Jamaica; in so doing, she set a
World Junior record over
200 meters with her time of 22.18. Felix is coached by Bobby Kersee, husband and
coach of Olympic champion and world record holding heptathlete Jackie Joyner-Kersee.
Felix became the youngest-ever gold medalist sprinter in the 200 meters at the
World Championships in Helsinki in 2005 and then successfully defended her title
at Osaka two
years later. At Osaka, Felix caught Jamaican Veronica Campbell on the bend and
surged down the straight to finish in 21.81 seconds, lowering her own
season-leading time by a
massive 0.37 seconds. After the final she stated that "I feel so good, I am so
excited. I have been waiting for so long to run such a time, to run under 22
seconds. it has not been
an easy road, but finally I managed," said Felix. At that time, she addressed
her future, saying, "My next goal is not the world record, but a gold in
Beijing. I want to take it step by
step. I might consider to do both � the 200 and the 400 meters � there." In
2007, Felix became only the second female athlete; after Marita Koch in 1983 to
win three gold
medals at a single IAAF World Championships in Athletics.
Felix continues to lift and press heavy weights as part of her training routine.
Currently Felix can leg press 700 lbs despite her size. Felix qualified for the
2008 Olympic Games
during the 2008 Olympic trials in the 200 meters, but just missed qualifying for
the 100 meter. However, at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, despite running
her season's
best time in the 200 meters at 21.93, Felix again finished second to Campbell,
who ran 21.74, the best time in the decade, to clinch the gold medal. Felix also
ran the 4x400
meters relay as a member of the U.S. women's team. The team finished first,
giving Felix her first Olympic gold medal.
In the build up to the 2009 World Championships in Athletics Felix was part of a
United States 4 x 100 m relay team that ran the fastest women's sprint relay in
twelve years.
Lauryn Williams, Felix, Muna Lee and Carmelita Jeter finished with a time of
41.58 seconds, bringing them to eighth on the all time list. In 2009 aged just
23, Felix proceeded to
claim her third 200-meter World Championships gold medal, an unprecedented
accomplishment in women's sprinting. Felix clocked 22.02sec to comfortably beat
Jamaica's
Olympic 200m champion Veronica Campbell-Brown.
Afterwards she said, "It's really special to win a third world title. I wanted
to do it in this stadium, represent my country and make Jesse Owens proud." But
Felix would rather have
the one gold medal that is missing during the four years it has taken her to win
three consecutive 200-meter titles at the biennial world championships. "I would
love to trade my
three world championships for your gold," Felix jokingly said to Veronica
Campbell-Brown of Jamaica at the medalists' news conference. That is the 2008
Olympic gold medal in
the 200, a race Felix, from Valencia, was heavily favored to win. She was
distressed over finishing second to Campbell-Brown when it happened in Beijing
and still obsessed about
it a year later. "I don't think I ever want to get over it," Felix said. "I
never want to be satisfied with losing." At the same time she also commented,
"I'm just grateful to have had
success quickly, and sometimes I do have to pinch myself and realize all this
has happened in not that much time."
In 2010, Felix focused on running more 400 m races. Running the 200 m and the
400 m, she became the first person ever to win two IAAF Diamond League trophies
in the same
year. She continued her dominance by winning 21 races out of 22 starts, only
losing to Veronica Campbell-Brown in New York. Incidentally, it was there that
Brown set the WL
time of 21.98 seconds. In 2011, Felix attended the 'Great City Games' held in
the streets of Manchester on 15 May. It was there that she set the world leading
time in the 200m,
which was 22.12. She also ran a 10.89 in the second 100m of the race.
At the 2011 World Championships in Athletics, Felix participated in the 200 and
400 metre events, as well as the 4�100 and 4�400 metre relays. First up was the
400 metre
event, she took second place in her heat in a time of 51.45. Felix then won her
semi-final in a time of 50.36, ahead of rivals Novlene Williams-Mills and
Antonina Krivoshapka. Felix
was placed in lane 3 in the 400 metre final and finished second in a time of
49.59, 0.03 behind winner Amantle Montsho, who she had beaten throughout the
season. In the 200
metre event, Felix was drawn in heat 3 and purposely placed second behind Dafne
Schippers in a time of 22.71. In her semi-final, Felix again purposely finished
second behind rival
Veronica Campbell-Brown in a time of 22.67. In the final, Felix was drawn in
lane 3 and finished third in an under-par time of 22.42 due to fatigue. Veronica
Campbell-Brown won
the gold and Carmelita Jeter won silver.
In the relay events, Felix ran the second leg in both the 4x100m & 4x400m
against reputable athletes such as Kerron Stewart and Kelly-Ann Baptiste, and
Davita Prendergast and
Nicola Sanders respectively. Felix went on to claim gold in both events and
attained world-leading times in both finals.
In 2012, Felix returned to the Olympic Trials, the schedule of events virtually
requiring she choose between attempting to qualify in the 100m or 400m as her
secondary event
behind the 200m. She chose the 100m and advanced to the final, the top 3
finishers were to go on to the 2012 Summer Olympics as part of the 100m team. In
the final, she ran
11.01, good enough for 3rd, but not without controversy. Officials ruled the
race a tie after initially declaring the inexperienced Jeneba Tarmoh the winner.
There was to be a run
off for the 3rd spot between Tarmoh and Felix, but Tarmoh pulled out of the
100-meter runoff scheduled for Monday July 2, 2012, thus conceding the final
100m spot to Felix.
In the 200m final at the Olympic Trials, Felix ran a personal best and a meet
record of 21.69, the third fastest time an American has ever run and the fourth
fastest ever. Carmelita
Jeter and Sanya Richards-Ross placed 2nd and 3rd respectively.
At the 2012 Summer Olympics Felix competed in 4 events: The 100m, 200m, 4x100m
relay, and 4x400m relay, placing 5th in the 100m and winning gold in the other
three, thus
becoming the first American woman to win three golds in athletics at an Olympics
since Florence Griffith-Joyner at the 1988 Summer Olympics. In her first final,
the 100m, she
placed 5th, running a personal best time of 10.89 seconds. In the 200m final; a
race she lost at the 2008 Summer Olympics and 2004 Summer Olympics to Jamaican
rival,
Veronica Campbell-Brown, it proved third time lucky as she beat Campbell-Brown,
and also the 2012 100m Olympic Gold medallist, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, who
finished second.
American compatriot Carmelita Jeter took the bronze.
Felix took to the track again on August 10, 2012 as part of the women's 4x100m
relay team with Tianna Madison, Bianca Knight, and Carmelita Jeter. The foursome
went on to
smash the long held world record of 41.37, set by East Germany in October 1985.
This record was set before Allyson Felix, Bianca Knight, or Tianna Madison were
even born.
On the final night of athletics August 11, 2012, Felix ran the 2nd leg of the
women's 4 x 400m (in a leg time of 47.80), with DeeDee Trotter, Francena
McCorory, and Sanya
Richards-Ross, with the winning time being 3:16.87, the 3rd fastest time in
Olympic history behind the Soviet Union and USA at the 1988 Summer Olympics, and
the 5th fastest
time overall.
Following the Olympics, Felix was a guest on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on
August 17, 2012. Felix also visited the set of ABC show Scandal, where she took
photos with the
cast and her Olympic medals. She had revealed she spent some of the time in her
London hotel room watching Scandal when an NBC broadcaster talked to her after
her 200m
qualifier race on August 7.
Achievements
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Allyson Felix is a 3x recipient of the Jesse Owens Award from USATF signifying
the Athlete of the Year. She won the award for the first time in 2005, In 2007,
she won the award
again. And won it for a third time in 2010.She is only the second woman (after
Marion Jones) to win the award three times.
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6 Times US National 200 Meters Champion - 2004, 05, 07, 08, 09, 12
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2010 US National 100 Meters Champion
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2011 US National 400 Meters Champion
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At the 2012 Summer Olympics Felix ran the second leg of the 4x400m relay in a
time of 47.8 seconds (fastest ever 4x400 split by an American woman).
Next..
Dated 07 December 2012
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