Allyson Felix is planning her Olympic comeback on her home turf for LA 2028
The 11-time Olympic medalist announced she will return to the track.
Olympic track and field legend Allyson Felix said this week that she hopes to make a comeback on her home turf at the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Games.
The LA native first announced the news to TIME on Monday, confirming she will seek to compete in her sixth Olympic Games in her home city.
The University of Southern California alum has her sights set on the very venue that catapulted her collegiate career -- the LA Memorial Coliseum -- where she said she hopes to have "a once-in-a-lifetime homecoming."
With 11 Olympic medals to her name -- seven gold, three silver and one bronze -- Felix is the most decorated female track and field athlete in Olympic history.
Felix, who will be 42 when the LA Games take place, would be the only American sprinter to take the Olympic track in their 40s, a feat she called "a live experiment in human potential."
Felix retired from the sport after the pandemic-delayed Tokyo Games in 2021, and last summer, the 14-time World Champion was inducted into the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee Hall of Fame with the Class of 2025.
"So many of us have been told not to do the big, bold thing," Felix told TIME this week. "You know, at this age, I should probably be staying home and taking care of my kids, doing all that. And just, why not? Let's flip it on its head. Let's go after the thing. Let's be vulnerable."
The mother of two and entrepreneur -- she founded the female athlete sports-management agency Always Alpha, as well as the women's footwear and apparel company Saysh with her brother Wes Felix -- told TIME she feels "very fulfilled" and that this comeback isn't about money or attention.
While she doesn't plan to regularly compete on the global circuit in the lead up to the 2028 Olympic trials, TIME reported that Felix will have a training schedule with longtime coach Bobby Kersee and anticipates returning to certified competitions sometime in 2027.
Felix told "GMA" in July last year that she was "really excited" for the 2028 Games to come to her own backyard and her old stomping grounds.
"I love the relays, the team aspect, the 4x1, the 4x4. We have such strong teams, and it's really cool now that we'll be at home," she said at the time. "In my lifetime, I've only been able to see that on TV from the '96 Games -- it's so exciting."
Felix also spoke to sports' impact on society, saying at the time that they allow for an "escape" and have the power "to bring people together."
"We see it in the Olympics every two years, and you see this ability to put our differences aside and to really just pour into the beauty of athleticism," she said then. "My hope for athletes as well is that we'll be able to provide some of that joy that's been missing and that we all need."
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