TOKYO (AP) — Allyson Felix knows the way to the Olympic medals stand better than any runner alive.
She made her record-setting 11th trip there Saturday, after starring as the headliner on a 4×400 relay win that featured a who’s-who of American running.
With the gold medal dangling from her neck and the “Star-Spangled Banner” playing in the near-empty stadium, “I took a moment just to close my eyes and take it in one last time,” Felix said.
After the final race of the final Games of the 35-year-old sprinter’s career, Felix leaves the stage having won the most medals of any track athlete in U.S. history. It’s some list. She passed Carl Lewis, and now she only trails one person in the Olympic record book — Paavo Nurmi — the Finnish distance runner who won 12 between 1920 and 1928.
