Faith, father help guide Felix to success on the track

Source: Sports Illustrated

It is early morning at the large cafeteria hall of the Sunrise Ministry in Auburn, Calif., and Professor Paul Felix is giving an Olympic performance in the face of poor conditions. The volume on his body microphone is jumping from faint resonance to raised screeching to silence, and the veteran pastor isn’t fond of his handheld mic. “Can we fix this?” he asks. “I like to talk with my hands.”

At the front table, the soft-spoken daughter who otherwise tried to emulate the man with the booming voice, smiles at the irony. After all, Allyson Felix usually lets her feet do most of the talking.

In four months, the sprinter may be the female track star of the Beijing Olympics, running three distances — including two relays — with a chance to win three gold medals. But on this morning, she is the youthful, beaming, 22-year-old Sunday-school teacher who has just introduced her dad at the church’s annual father-daughter breakfast.

“My family has always been there to make sure I understood what we were learning in church,” she tells people. “My running is a gift from God; My success is not of myself. I know that my actions on and off the track should be a reflection of God, because people watch what you do and what you say. My father taught me that.”

It is the first time Allyson has had the occasion to introduce Paul, who suspects ulterior reasons for his increasing demand. “I realize that when people ask me to come and speak these days,” he says, “there is usually another motive, because they can ask me to bring my daughter.”

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