Allyson Felix’s Tokyo run could make her track and field’s most decorated female Olympian.

At a Summer Olympics where almost nothing is recognizable, Allyson Felix’s presence feels especially familiar, almost comforting.

It’s the Summer Games, so of course Felix is running for a gold medal on the track.

She made her debut as an 18-year-old representing the United States at the 2004 Athens Games and has barely stepped off the gas since: She took home one medal from Athens, two from Beijing in 2008, three from London in 2012 and three from Rio de Janeiro in 2016. She also has 19 world championship medals.

Felix’s nine Olympic medals (six golds and three silvers) have her tied with the Jamaican sprinter Merlene Ottey as the most decorated female Olympian in track and field.

Should she bring home a 10th Olympic medal on Friday in the 400-meter final — and even an 11th on Saturday in the 4×400-meter relay — she would match or surpass Carl Lewis, who has 10, as the most decorated American athlete in track and field. (Paavo Nurmi of Finland, with 12, has the most Olympic medals in the sport overall.)

For a time, there was no guarantee that Felix, 35, would get to the start line for these Games.

In November 2018, she gave birth to her daughter, Camryn, in an emergency cesarean section at 32 weeks. Felix had severe pre-eclampsia, which put her and her daughter’s lives at risk. Camryn remained in the neonatal intensive care unit for weeks.

“There are a lot of moments where I was doubtful,” Felix said after qualifying for Friday’s 400-meter final, coming in second behind Stephenie Ann McPherson of Jamaica for automatic qualification.

Felix’s fight to get to these Games included a visit to Congress and a break with her sponsor.

Her fight hasn’t wavered. She arrived in Tokyo with the same hunger she has had since she first appeared on the global stage. But now she is also a mother, an activist and an entrepreneur who just started her own shoe brand, Saysh.