"You're creating change, you are that role model now" - Allyson Felix hails Naomi Osaka for juggling motherhood with tennis career at a young age

Seven-time Olympic gold medallist Allyson Felix has hailed tennis star Naomi Osaka for being a role model for the next generation of players.

Osaka has spent most of this year on the sidelines after announcing that she was pregnant with her first child. Last month, she and her boyfriend, rapper Corade, announced that they became parents to a baby girl, who they named Shai.

Felix and Osaka were in conversation on the latest episode of the Mountaintop Conversations by Saysh podcast, where the former commended the latter for choosing to juggle motherhood while being at the peak of her athletic powers.

“You're creating change right now. So all of the pressures that you felt, what you're doing right now, the generation coming up, they won't have to deal with it as much because you are that role model now,” she said.

“Like you are the one who they're watching and they're seeing like ‘oh wait this is possible, this doesn't have to be the end of my playing career. I can still go on to greater heights’. And I think it's so important to just be able to see that. I know for me because I had those same feelings, same pressures, didn't know what was going to happen and I did wait so long,” she added.

Felix, who is a 14-time gold medallist at the World Championships, further stated that her dream for her daughter was for her not to have to pick between motherhood and an athletic career.

“And my dream for my daughter, if she goes down this path is, like, that's not even a question and it's not that she has to be a mother but that she has the option that she can be a mother whenever she wants to, on her own timing,” she opined.

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After parting ways with Nike unceremoniously, Allyson Felix establishes her own shoe company

Allyson Felix is a seven-time Olympic champion

When Allyson Felix announced her pregnancy, she was asked by Nike, her then-sponsor, to take a 70% pay cut. Refusing to do so, she took her fight with the sportswear giant public before parting ways with them in 2019.

Felix failed to reach a sponsorship deal with any other footwear brand afterwards, prompting her to build a shoe company of her own. She recently announced the launch of Saysh, a new lifestyle brand for women.

Felix took to social media to announce the launch of Saysh and captioned the post:

"Remember when they told us to know our place? We knew women deserved better. So we created Saysh. And in our shoes, we broke records and won gold. And still, Saysh is more than just sneakers – it’s a movement for change."

Felix serves as Saysh's president, while her brother and business partner, Wes, is the company's CEO. The two have together raised $3 million in seed money from a wide range of venture investors.