Allyson Felix isn’t just an Olympics superstar – she’s also a mom’s mom.
Felix – who is the most decorated track and field athlete in history, as well as the mother of two children – has announced a new partnership with baby product giant Pampers. Together, they are offering the “Pampers Nursery” to competing parents, to be made available in the official Athletes Village at the 2024 Summer Games, which start July 26 in Paris.
It’s an unprecedented offer of childcare support for Olympic athletes, providing them with a space to nurse and tend to their children – or just spend quality time with them.
“I just knew how difficult it was to compete at the top level after I had my daughter, and some practical things were really hard,” Felix told CBS News. “And so when I joined the Athletes Commission of the [International Olympics Committee], I really wanted to be that voice for athlete moms, and just take away one less thing for them to worry about in the pressure of competition.”
It’s not the first time Felix has used her platform to effect progress on behalf of professional women athletes. In 2021, she collaborated with the Women’s Sports Foundation and her official sponsor at the time, Gap’s Athleta, to give out $10,000-apiece childcare grants for competitors-slash-mothers who are traveling for their work. They awarded $200,000 in all. “[T]he reality is that there’s a certain level of financial support and security that’s necessary to be able to do it,” Felix noted at the time.
She is also utilizing a $20 million grant from the Melinda French Gates Foundation to improve Black maternal health – an ongoing, and worsening problem in the United States.
Ultimately, Felix’s aim is to ensure that as many moms as possible feel increasingly supported, cared for – and yes, encouraged. She notes, in regards to her latest effort in the 2024 Summer Olympics: “I think it really tells women that you can choose motherhood and also be at the top of your game, and not have to miss a beat.”
