Olympian to speak at commencement

Olympic track athlete, USC alumna and social activist Allyson Felix will deliver the address for the upcoming 139th commencement ceremony, the University announced Thursday.

Felix had a widely successful career as a track and field athlete. Track & Field News named her the High School Athlete of the Year in 2003, and while attending USC, she earned her first Olympic medal: a silver in the 200-meter dash at the 2004 Athens games. After graduating in 2008, she brought home 10 more, including seven gold, for a total of 11 Olympic medals. 

“Allyson has already inspired the world as a runner and used her platform to push for women’s health and women’s rights,” President Carol Folt said in a press release. 

Her most recent resurgence to the international spotlight came in 2019, when she began speaking out publicly about the athletic industry’s maltreatment of pregnant athletes. Her op-ed for the New York Times published that May accused her sponsor, Nike, of threatening pay cuts and refusing to waive financial punishment for substandard performance, and called for better treatment of working mothers in and out of the athletic industry. Public outcry after the op-ed’s publication culminated in a congressional inquiry, and Nike later revised its maternity policy to guarantee athletes’ pay as well as additional maternity protections.

Since then, Felix has ended her contract with Nike and became the first sponsored athlete for Athleta, a women’s apparel brand. In 2021, she launched her own women’s lifestyle brand, Saysh, which she announced via an Instagram post showing her medals and C-section scar.

Felix is now retired, last appearing at the Tokyo Olympics.