Alexis Ohanian reveals Serena Williams' reaction to his idea of launching all-women track league with $663,000 prize money

By Adityan Pillai

Modified Oct 05, 2024 12:59 GMT

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Alexis Ohanian opened up about his wife Serena Williams' reaction to his idea of launching an all-women track meet in an attempt to bring about change in women's sports as well as promote track and field. The co-founder of Reddit revealed how the legendary tennis player extended her support to his idea to launch an event that offered a prize money of $60,000 to the winners and had a total prize pool of $663,000.

Ohanian launched his track meet, Athlos NYC which featured some of the fastest female athletes in the world including Gabby Thomas, Brittany Brown and Faith Kipyegon among others competing in six events -100m, 100m hurdles, 200m, 400m, 800m and the 1500m. Along with great races on the track, Athlos NYC featured a performance from Megan Thee Stallion and DJ D-Nice, making it a very memorable experience for track enthusiasts and spectators.

The inaugural edition of Athlos NYC received great praise from fans on social media for its outstanding management as well as the accessibility to the live stream which was available to watch for free on YouTube. Alexis Ohanian opened up about his wife, Serena Williams' reaction when he first pitched the idea of launching his own track meet in an interview during Athlos NYC.

Ohanian revealed how the legendary tennis player was optimistic and wanted him to go ahead.

When I pitched her on Athlos, it was an insta-yes and she was like, 'this is a great idea. I see it, you've got to do it," he said.

Furthermore, he went on to credit his wife for inspiring him to offer a great paycheck to the athletes which included the winning bonus as well as 10% of the overall revenue.

Alexis Ohanian on his inspiration to launch a track meet

Alexis Ohanian during a Featured Session: Empowering the Next Generation to Build a Better Future - 2023 SXSW Conference and Festivals - Source: Getty

Alexis Ohanian spoke about his inspiration to launch a track meet in his appearance at the 'Ready Set Go' podcast with Justin Gatlin. Ohanian revealed how watching the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials live gave him the inspiration to come up with Athlos.

Speaking about his experience in Eugene he said:

“I had never been to a track meet before and then I went to my first one in Eugene. I saw the (Olympic) Qualifiers and so that was incredible right. I was like ‘okay this is so exhilarating’, and then I'm watching Tara (Davis-Woodhall) who is so dynamic, she's such a star and she has her section of the stadium all gassed up for one of her jumps but at the same time there's like a race going on. And as a casual sort of first-timer, I'm torn between two storylines that I know I should be paying attention to.”

This experience helped him to culminate the idea of having a great platform for women where they can tell their stories and put forward great performances.