"Hell of a job" - Serena Williams' husband Alexis Ohanian opens up about challenges behind successfully hosting Athlos

Serena Williams' husband and Athlos founder Alexis Ohanian recently highlighted the challenges he faced in organizing the first-ever women's track meet. The event saw 36 female athletes from various disciplines competing at the Icahn Stadium.

Athlos also made headlines for its unique setting that featured crowns and handsome prize money for their athletes alongside music performances from artists such as Megan Thee Stallion. The event also gathered substantial attention from fans, gathering around 2.5 million views just on X (formerly Twitter).

Months after the success of the inaugural edition of the women's only meet, Athlos shared a video on X to reflect on and celebrate the event. The video consisted of several snippets from Athlos featuring athletes such as Gabby Thomas and Brittany Brown, among others.

Reacting to this video, Alexis Ohanian, the founder of Athlos, appreciated his team for the strings they pulled during the event. He also made a special mention of live-streaming the events through international broadcasters amidst the UN week in New York. He wrote:

"Pulling off a live event with thousands of people, world-class athletes, and a live international broadcast! All during UN week in NYC. Team did a hell of a job."

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Alexis Ohanian opened up about his thought process behind conducting the first Athlos event in New York

Alexis Ohanian with his daughter Olympia during the inaugural Athlos meet in New York (Image via: Getty Images)

Alexis Ohanian shed light on his thought process behind choosing New York as the first host of the Athlos meet. This came just a month before the commencement of the event in September.

In an interview with Citius Mag, Ohanian spoke about the rich sporting legacy of the city, which includes teams such as the New York Yankees and New York Knicks of the NBA. He also added that he wanted to bring this sporting energy to the inaugural Athlos event. He said:

"(New York) is a city that is famous for amazing sporting venues, amazing sporting events, whether it's a Knicks playoff game finally happening again, I'm not a baseball guy, but I assume the Yankees do a thing, or obviously the U.S. Open finals. We want to bring that energy… That is what these athletes deserve." (20:18 onwards)

He added:

"This is what helps tell a story to the world that the Olympics are over, but the athletes are here and these are the exact same women running for big dollars."

During the interview, Ohanian also expressed his love for building things from scratch rather than buying them.