LOS ANGELES — The most decorated female track athlete of all time now has a field that takes her name. On Monday, the University of Southern California officially renamed its track facility Allyson Felix Field. A Los Angeles native who has won 11 Olympic medals over the course of her career, Felix won her first silver medal at the Athens Games in 2004 when she was a freshman at USC.

“Never in my wildest dreams would I ever have thought that anything on this campus would have my name on it,” said Felix, who first became acquainted with USC as a teenager when her older brother Wes ran for the team.

A sprinting prodigy once known as “chicken legs” who attended Los Angeles Baptist High School in North Hills, she joined the USC track team in 2003.

“I hope that student athletes come to this field at the beginning of their journey and they experience something like I did — getting a foundation, being prepared to face the world,” said Felix, who won her last Olympic medal in 2021 as a 35-year-old mother. 

In addition to the Olympic Games, Felix is also a 10-time world champion. A sprinter, she competed in the 100-, 200- and 400-meter races from 2003 to 2022, when she retired. She graduated with a BA from the Rossier School of Education in 2008. Now 37, she is also the founder of Saysh, a footwear brand she founded after her former sponsor, Nike, cut her pay 70% after learning she planned to have a family.

“She’s a trailblazer. She isn’t afraid to speak truth to power and stand up for women’s rights,” USC President Carol Folt said at a festive event that included a performance from the Trojans marching band as the new sign on the field was revealed. 

Folt noted that USC’s renaming of the field in Felix’s honor comes on the 51st anniversary of Title IX, the civil rights law that gave women equal opportunity to play sports in educational institutions. 

“Here at USC, we strive each day to embody what it truly means to be a Trojan,” said USC athletic director Mike Bohn. “Allyson Felix will be a continued reminder of class and distinction for the entire USC community when we see her name prominently displayed on our beautiful campus on both sides of our brand new scoreboard.”

Felix, he noted, is an extraordinary example of humility, competitive grit, sports and business acumen, as well as kindness, compassion and heart.

“The naming of this field is not just to honor Allyson, but to inspire Trojans to achieve beyond the ordinary, to be a champion on and off the field, to stand for what is right with confidence and grace,” Bohn added.