10 Seconds: Mothers on Father’s Day

Day 3: Jun 20, 2021
Allyson Felix finished second in the 400 meters to make her fifth Olympic team. Quanera Hayes, who won the race, is a mom, too.

It is easy to forget anyone else is in the race when Allyson Felix is racing. When she is lining up for her fifth Olympic team, the first time attempting to do so as a mother, and have been in the spotlight since making her first Games at 18, it makes sense that the TV announcers and media members will focus on her. 

When Felix then seems to be out of it with 100 meters to go, only to mount a furious finish to finish second and secure a spot on that fifth Olympic team, it makes even more sense that she would remain in the spotlight—especially when she does a victory lap with her kid and Athleta sports marketing members cannot believe how lucky they are that she is running in their stuff (and apparently some $2,500 spikes). 

Just because it is easy to forget everyone in the race, however, does not mean it’s the only story that matters. Viewers were reminded of that when Felix’s daughter, Camryn, spotted a little boy doing a victory lap, too. Quanera Hayes won the race, and her son joined for her victory lap. The moment was too good to be true for NBC, who captured the two kids saying hi in their shy ways. It was the best 10 seconds of the night, when Felix told her daughter and Haye’s son that they were going to Tokyo. 

And while Felix was used to the spotlight, Hayes was a Division II runner in college, racing in front of smaller crowds while Felix and others raced in the spotlight. Hayes, a graduate of Livingstone College, a historically black college in Salisbury, North Carolina, had made world championship teams, winning gold in the 4×400-meter relay in 2017, but this one was special, especially with her son in tow.

“He’s my everything,” Hayes said after her semifinal on Saturday night. “It’s something that you can’t explain, because, it’s just like, you know you’ve given somebody life. And he’s my reason,” Hayes said. “So having him here is—like I cannot explain it. I have so much pride and so much joy knowing that I bounced back from giving birth to him and having him see me and not give up and continue to fight for what God has blessed me to do.”

Now, Hayes, Felix, and their families have a few more races to get ready for. The victory laps in Tokyo, could include some children, too.

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