After becoming the NCAA champion, Alysia Montano signed with Nike in 2008 and competed at her peak. But around 2013, when she started thinking about having a child, Nike’s response was blunt: “We’ll just pause your contract.” In track and field, where athletes depend on sponsorships, that meant losing income. So, Montano chose to walk away and joined ASICS. Years later, an 11x Olympic medalist faced the same situation, but this time, she chose to fight a legal battle over it.

Now, nearly seven years after leaving Nike, Allyson Felix is opening up about just how hard that fight really was. Speaking to Front Office Sports, she didn’t frame it as a personal win. Instead, she said her battle with Nike “was not something where I benefited from, but to see the generation now being able to, that’s what it’s been all about.”

The weight of that decision is still evident when she speaks. Taking on a corporate giant like Nike was an immense challenge. She says it was “a hard fight, and it was really unfortunate to me that it had to get to that place to bring about change,” but still, she adds, “it was worth going through the storm to get here.” To understand why, you have to go back to 2018.

By then, Allyson Felix had already done enough to secure her place in history, with six Olympic gold medals, years at the top, and a long partnership with Nike that began around 2010. On the outside, everything looked stable. But at the same time, her contract had expired in 2017, and negotiations were underway just as she became pregnant.

Therefore, Allyson Felix had a hard decision to hide her pregnancy because she thought that if Nike knew, it could affect the deal already on the table.

But then, when Felix was 32 weeks pregnant, she was diagnosed with severe preeclampsia. She gave birth to a baby via an emergency C-section within 48 hours. Her daughter was born seven weeks early. But the pressure did not end even then.

After six weeks, Felix made a comeback in an attempt to prepare to participate in the 2019 World Championships. But it was not easy to recuperate. Due to the C-section, even such simple movements were painful. Meanwhile, her negotiations with Nike were getting worse.

When Nike got to know the truth, they proposed to her a new contract with approximately 70 percent less than the old one. On top of that, like most track athletes, her earnings were tied to performance. While there were discussions about limiting performance-based reductions for a period after childbirth, Nike refused to include those protections in the contract as a formal maternity clause.

Yet, Allyson Felix was asked to take part in a women’s empowerment campaign. That moment stayed with her. “My stomach dropped… beyond disrespectful.” That was the moment everything changed.

On May 22, 2019, Allyson Felix went public in The New York Times. She shared her story, the contract terms, and the larger issue behind them. She wrote, “What I’m not willing to accept is the enduring status quo around maternity,” Felix wrote. “I asked Nike to contractually guarantee that I wouldn’t be punished if I didn’t perform at my best in the months surrounding childbirth. I wanted to set a new standard. If I, one of Nike’s most widely marketed athletes, couldn’t secure these protections, who could?”

Shortly after, Nike became the target of a hefty amount of criticism not only regarding the case of Allyson Felix but also concerning the hypocrisy it showed. Athletes such as Alysia Montano and Kara Goucher were vocal about similar experiences.

Nike, within three months, reversed its policy, saying that the female athletes would not have their salaries reduced during a specific time after giving birth. But by then, Felix had already moved on.

In July 2019, Allyson Felix signed with Athleta. Soon after, at the 2019 World Championships in Doha, she won gold again. And now that is the reason top track and field athletes like Sydney McLaughlin are entering motherhood on their own terms, without the same fear of losing everything.

But around the same period that Allyson Felix was fighting with Nike, another major Nike athlete made a very different kind of exit, one not connected to pregnancy, but to voice and values.

Simone Biles’ fight for her voice against Nike

In 2015, after turning professional, Simone Biles signed with Nike. For the 18-year-old, it felt like a dream. But by 2021, just months before the Tokyo Olympics, she made a surprising decision. She walked away from Nike.

Nike spokesperson Josh Benedek stated, “Our contract with Simone Biles has ended, and we wish her the very best.” But her exit was not about money. It was about what she felt was missing in the partnership. According to ItsFinancialEducator, Biles left because she wanted “support for her as a person, not just as a performer. Creative input in her partnership. Values-first approach… Nike couldn’t deliver.”

She eventually signed with Athleta, which is a much smaller brand compared to Nike, but one that worked differently. Instead of directing her image, they asked her what she wanted to create. It led to athlete-led projects like her “Because I Can” collection, where she had creative control. As Biles put it, “I think they stand for everything that I stand for… it was time for a change.”

Then came Tokyo 2021. When Biles withdrew from multiple events because of twisties, she faced a lot of backlash. But that time, Athleta stood by her. Their spokesperson said, “We stand by Simone and support her well-being both in and out of competition. Being the best also means knowing how to take care of yourself. We are inspired by her leadership today and are behind her.” But Nike, after being with her for six years, still did not make any public statement to support her.