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Olympics track & field: 5 athletes to watch

With 49 different events from the women's 3000-meter steeplechase to the men's shot put, track and field has far more than five athletes to watch, but here are some of the most-watched.

5. Allyson Felix, USA (sprinter)

Eric Gay/AP/File
Allyson Felix celebrates her first place finish in the women's 200 meters at the US Olympic Track and Field Trials last month in Eugene, Ore.

  • By Mark Sappenfield Staff writer

Allyson Felix is the Michelle Kwan of the 200 meters, you might say. Humble, unfailingly polite, and enormously talented, Felix is the best 200-meter sprinter of her generation – but she has never won Olympic gold. Twice, she has finished second.

"I've never gotten over it," she said at a pre-Olympics media summit. "I don't want to. It's motivation."

Both times, the winner was Jamaican Veronica Campbell-Brown, and with Jamaica seeking to replace the US as the world's top sprinting nation at these Games, the race takes on an added significance.

Felix will also run in the 100 meters after she controversially tied for third with Jeneba Tarmoh at the US Olympic trials. With only three US sprinters allowed in the 100 at the Olympics, and no formal procedure for breaking a tie, the governing body of US track and field suggested a run-off. Tarmoh declined, conceding the spot to Felix.

Felix is not considered a medal favorite in the 100, but the race could help her improve her start times in the 200. In the 200, she has a reputation of relatively slow starts and strong, winning finishes.       

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Mark Sappenfield
Editor

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