Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian said his wife, tennis champion Serena Williams, initially tried to talk him out of investing in women’s sports due to her own difficult experiences in the field.
“When I said I wanted to start a team, angel city, she talked me out of it, because of her experience in women’s sports had given her the perspective to say, look, this is going to be so hard. She has had to go through all of this and survived, and thrive,” Ohanian said during an appearance on “CBS Mornings.”
Despite Williams’ warnings, Ohanian proceeded with his women’s sports ventures, including Athlos, a women’s-only track and field competition that will debut its first field event in New York City’s Times Square in October.
“I am stubborn. These athletes in track and field captivate us, they should not disappear for the four years in between,” Ohanian said.
The venture capital firm founder announced the expansion alongside Olympic gold medalist Tara Davis-Woodhall, who will compete in the long jump event. Davis-Woodhall said she reached out to Ohanian after the initial Athlos announcement focused primarily on track events.
“It is always looked at last, on the back burner, but field events are so important for track and field,” Davis-Woodhall said. “When no sprinting is going on, it is almost quiet but then you realize there is field that is happening.”
The event will take place the night before the main Athlos competition. Ohanian compared the long jump distance to a basketball three-point line, noting the athletic feat of “running and jumping that same distance with their body.”
Ohanian credited his marriage to Williams, whom he called “the greatest ever,” with opening his eyes to the potential of women’s sports investments.
“I have found something in women’s sports that is undeniably the result of seeing the greatest ever doing it. Women’s tennis is the prime example of women’s sports being worth as much in dollars, not feelings, the equivalent,” he said.
Davis-Woodhall, who has been competing in long jump since age 4, said working with Ohanian is helping bring her dreams to reality.
“I have been doing this sport since I was 4 years old at an elite level and to now bring eyes to the sport, awareness, I never knew what that meant until I got a little bit older and a little bit more mature, and working with Alexis, he is helping me bring my dreams towards reality,” she said.
