Sprinter Allyson Felix defeated just about all comers on the track – conquering her sport to become the most decorated athlete in Olympic track and
Sprinter Allyson Felix defeated just about all comers on the track – conquering her sport to become the most decorated athlete in Olympic track and field history, with 7 gold medals to go with an astounding 20 world championships. When the starting gun sounded, she was almost invincible; it was apart from competition that she would face perhaps her greatest test.
The documentary She Runs the World, premiering tonight at Tribeca Festival in New York, examines her brave decision to challenge the policies of the most powerful entity in athletics – Nike. Perri Peltz and Matthew O’Neill directed the film, which bows in the festival’s Spotlight Documentary section.
Allyson Felix celebrates after a race at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games on August 6, 2021
David Ramos/Getty Images
“At the peak of her career, Felix happily discovers she is pregnant with her first child,” Tribeca’s Casey Baron writes in the festival program. “But the pinnacle of Felix’s personal and professional life turns into a public flashpoint when a fight for maternal protections in sports and a life-threatening complication triggers a high-stakes showdown with the most powerful brand in athletics. But Felix turned her personal and professional battles into a movement, acting as a catalyst for change in her sport and spaces beyond it. Delve into her meteoric rise and battle that changed the game not just for her, but for countless women athletes across the country.”
Peltz and O’Neill’s work includes the upcoming feature documentary The Last Twins, the recently released Can’t Look Away: The Case Against Social Media, and the 2024 doc feature Surveilled, with Ronan Farrow.
Allyson Felix in ‘She Runs the World’
Tribeca Festival
“Allyson’s story is a universal one,” Peltz tells Deadline. “She’s singular in her tenacity as an athlete and changemaker, but the challenges women face while building a family and a career are struggles so many of us share. While most of our stories aren’t as dramatic as Allyson’s—and certainly don’t include 11 Olympic medals—we’ve all felt the tension between motherhood and professional demands. Allyson took on that fight and turned it into real change, not just for herself but for other athletes and for women everywhere. Allyson wanted to ‘run fast and win medals’—and yet when the moment presented itself, she rose to the occasion in a very serious way. The only thing that could top her success on the track was her success off the track—and that’s an incredible story we feel so lucky to have told. We hope She Runs the World sparks a broader conversation about maternal health, equity, and what it means to truly support working mothers.”
O’Neill adds, “Allyson has used her voice, her power and her platform to challenge the status quo. Tribeca Festival has an incredible history of amplifying voices and stories that are transforming our world with ambition and dynamism – there’s no better place to premiere She Runs the World then at a festival that brings together so many of the women and men who run our world.”
Allyson Felix competes in the Women’s 400m Final at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games on August 6, 2021
Christian Petersen/Getty Images
Felix specialized in the 100, 200, and 400 meters. She won Olympic medals beginning in the Beijing Summer Games of 2008 all the way through to the pandemic-delayed Tokyo Summer Games of 2021.
In a May 2022 op-ed in the New York Times, Felix laid down the gauntlet with Nike, exposing the fractious negotiations over an extension of her endorsement contract with the company. “I asked Nike to contractually guarantee that I wouldn’t be punished if I didn’t perform at my best in the months surrounding childbirth,” Felix wrote. “I wanted to set a new standard. If I, one of Nike’s most widely marketed athletes, couldn’t secure these protections, who could?”
In addition to tonight’s world premiere, She Runs the World will screen at Tribeca on Saturday and Sunday, as well as next Saturday, June 14. On June 18, Felix is expected to attend the Bentonville Film Festival in Arkansas – the cinematic event created by Geena Davis – for a screening of the film there.
“What I’ve learned through this journey is that I’m not alone—there are so many women trying to build a family and a career, and facing impossible choices,” Felix tells Deadline. “Sharing my story in She Runs the World has been incredibly vulnerable, but also empowering. My hope is that it helps other women feel seen, and reminds them that we deserve better—and we have every right to keep fighting for it.”
She Runs the World is directed and produced by Perri Peltz and Matthew O’Neill and produced by Lisa Binns. Frances Henderson and Bryan Chang edited the film; cinematography is by Nasreen Alkhateeb. Kathryn Bostic composed the score.
Tonya Lewis Lee serves as executive producer, along with Crystal Mccrary Mcguire, Beth Kojima, Melony & Adam Lewis, Janice Y.K. Lee & Sarah Bae, Dr. Amelia Ogunlesi, Carrie Walton Penner, Nina Fialkow & David Fialkow, Regina K. Scully, Ruth Ann Harnisch, Tory Burch, Danny Strong, Sue Bird, Jessica Robertson, Kayla Johnson, Brenda Robinson, and Laurie Fabiano.
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