Decorated retired Olympic Sprinter Allyson Felix has called for better maternity care for black women to ensure the death of team-mate Tori Bowie is “not in vain”.

Bowie died last month at the age of 32 from complications in childbirth and she is one of the four Americans who teamed up to win 4x100m relay gold at the Rio 2016 Olympics, and of the four – three have nearly died or died while giving birth.

Felix gave birth at 32 weeks in 2018, and was unsure she was going to make it …….having developed pre-eclampsia,  [a condition that causes high blood pressure during pregnancy and after Labour.

Her and Bowie’s team-mate Tianna Madison (formerly Bartoletta) said she nearly died during childbirth after going into Labour at 26 weeks.

Felix  pointed to CDC data from 2021 which states the maternity mortality rate for black women in the United States is 2.6 times higher than the rate for white women.

Felix said, “that needs to change, now, especially in light of tori’s tragic passing.