The Olympics are a year away, so who is the hot name? It's Allyson Felix, a 17-year-old who has a minister for a father, a mother who "walks very fast," and the speed to challenge for the title of world's fastest woman.
By BRUCE LOWITT
Published August 10, 2003
[Times photos: Ken Helle]
Allyson Feliz used to be "Chicken Legs," but now she's the one ruling the roost.
Allyson Feliz and Cleveland Cavalier LeBron James were named Gatorade High School Athletes of the Year.
TAMPA - Allyson Felix is ahead of her time. More accurately, she's ahead of Marion Jones' time. She is, at 17, a world-class sprinter. It is not a leap to believe that one year from now at the Olympics in Athens, Greece, she could lay claim to the title Fastest Woman in the World.
For the time being it belongs to Jones, triple-gold medalist (100 and 200 meters, and 4x400-meter relay) at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia.
Felix heads for the Aug. 23-31 World Track and Field Championships in Paris with the U.S. high school record of 22.51 seconds in the 200 meters, set at the Mount Sac Relays in April. That lowered Jones' record of 22.58 set in 1992.
Two weeks later Felix clocked 22.11 at the Grand Prix Banamex in Mexico City, fastest 200 by a woman this year, faster than Natalya Bochina's 1980 world junior record 22.19.(iaaf.org/news/Kind=2/newsId=21084.html) The absence of drug testing at the meet in Mexico prevented Felix's time (from) being ratified as an official record.
The overall world record is 21.34 by the late Florence Griffith Joyner at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.(2003 world almanac, p881)
"I think Allyson may be ahead of Marion Jones as a high school runner," said Jack Shepard, editor of Track & Field News. He called Felix's 22.11 "exceptional, extraordinary."
"Marion never did as great as Allyson did in high school," he said. "Allyson's leading the world. Marion never led the world in high school. ... (Felix's) time is going to stand for decades, like (miler Jim) Ryun's and (shot putter Michael) Carter's." Felix often has heard her name linked to Jones' and says comparisons cut two ways: "They encourage me because I see where she's at and it shows me my potential. But I also want to be my own self. ... There are some similarities, but we're not the same."
Tony Wells, who runs the San Diego-based Junior Elite Development Camp, said the 5-foot-6, 125-pound Felix tested earlier this year above the norm psychologically and physically - world class in the length and frequency of her stride.
"The next Marion? Sure," Wells said, "if her discipline and training and everything fall into place. There are a lot of them like her out there. They have to accept the day-to-day drudgery of training. I think Allyson does. She's pretty level-headed. ... The way she's running now, she fits the mold of a gold medalist."
Jones, 27, and husband Tim Montgomery's first child was born last month. She expects to resume running next month. "It's disappointing that I can't run against her this year," Felix said, "but I know that there'll be plenty of times in the future."
"What's your name?'
Felix warmed up for the worlds by winning bronze medals in the 200 at the July 4 Gaz de France - "We chose that meet to get familiar with the stadium and the surface," she said - and Friday at the Pan Am Games in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
It hasn't taken Felix long to reach the pinnacle in sprints; four years at little Los Angeles Baptist High. Before, she didn't give running much thought except for racing her brother, Wes, around the back yard and going to his high school meets. Wes, 20, is a Southern Cal sophomore and the 2002 U.S. junior champion at 200 meters. That's just about as far back as the Felix family speed runs. Their father is an ordained minister and teacher at a seminary in Sun Valley, Calif. He ran some in high school and got as far as the state championships, Paul said, "but I needed a relay team to help me get there." His wife did no running "but Marlean walks very fast. Between us we produced a couple of very fast runners."
Fast enough to have Jonathan Patton shaking his head the first time he saw her run. He was Felix's sprint coach at L.A. Baptist before she graduated this year.
He was coming back from a 1999 season in which his track team "had become more of a social club. People were quitting when things got tough." He was weeding out uncommitted students with a series of tests including 60- and 30-meter sprints. He barely noticed the quiet girl in basketball sneakers and floppy basketball shorts.
It was Friday, it was cold and all Patton was thinking about was getting this done. He didn't measure out the distances. He used poles in an adjoining fence as a guide; 12 or 13 poles was about 60 meters, he remembered. That's where he marked the finish line.
Felix went first. Patton doesn't remember her time, but he remembers she was way too fast and figured the track was short. He didn't feel like walking over and setting the cone for the proper distance; he'd time the rest of the girls at whatever it was.
They clocked pretty much what he expected for 60 meters. He had them do it again. Felix blew them away.
"She was walking back to the end of the line," Patton said. "I said, "Wait a minute; what's your name again?' "
As a sophomore, Felix won the state title in the 100; the next two years she won the 100 and 200 titles. "What's really special is her determination to be the best," Patton said. "I've been coaching track for almost 20 years and I've never seen anyone with the internal drive she has.
"Can she be the next Flo-Jo, the next Marion Jones? Can she win three gold medals? Yeah."
Chicken legs
It's just a short sprint from Paris to Athens for Felix - not in miles or months; in performance. The Olympics begin Aug. 13, 2004; track and field begins seven days later. The trials are July 9-18 in Sacramento, Calif. Felix has come a long way fast, not bad for a young woman who didn't give much thought to track until she entered high school, who started out labeled Chicken Legs by her Baptist High teammates (including Buckwheat, Turkey and Twitchy) and wound up California's two-time defending prep champion at 200 meters and three-time at 100.
"They don't really call me that anymore. It was sort of a pre-weight room thing," Felix said with a shy, soft laugh. "Now they call me Shug, like short for sugar."
Felix has enrolled at Southern Cal. "We had four years of (four-time NCAA 100-meter champion) Angela Williams, and now we have (defending NCAA 200-meter champion) Natasha Mayers for one more year," USC coach Ron Allice said. When Allyson comes in, we won't miss a beat."
Unless she turns pro. "That's the goal," she said. "However I get there I'm not sure yet." Felix isn't LeBron James in sprint spikes; she won't receive $100-million in endorsement deals and a $12-million contract for running. Still, there is a lot of money awaiting her.
"It would be a surprise to me if she competed four years at USC because, after one year, she's going to be untouchable," Patton said.
For the time being it's Southern Cal. "She wants to be an elementary school teacher,"her father said. "But does she run for USC or run professionally? Anything is possible. ... "If she turns pro and is as good at that level as she is in her's now, she won't have to worry about financial security. ... Allyson doesn't have the money, but she's got expensive tastes."
She grinned at the comment, conceding: "Definitely. I love to go shopping. I like the name-brand stuff, Burberry, Louis Vuitton ... I like it; I just don't have it."
MEET ALLYSON FELIX
HT./WT.: 5-6; 125.
BORN: Nov. 18, 1985.
EDUCATION: Los Angeles Baptist High; enrolled at Southern Cal.
PERSONAL BESTS: 100 meters, 11.29; 200, 22.11; 400, 52.26.
HIGHLIGHTS: U.S. junior record-holder (22.51 seconds) at 200 meters, 2003; second in 200 (23.14) at 2003 U.S. Indoor Nationals; third in 200 at 2003 U.S. Outdoor nationals; five-time California prep champ (100 three times, 200 twice).
