3 of the women who ran the 4x100 relay at the Rio Olympics had life-threatening pregnancy complications. After one of them died, the other sprinters are speaking out.

• Three of the women who won gold in the 4x100 relay at the Rio Olympics faced pregnancy complications.
• One of those women, Tori Bowie, died as a result of those complications on May 2.

Four women competed for the United States in the 4x100 meter relay race at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in 2016 and went on to win gold for the feat.

But years after the remarkable win, three of the women — one of whom died — faced life-threatening pregnancy complications.

Sprinter Tori Bowie died on May 2 in her Florida home after facing childbirth complications at eight months pregnant. The autopsy showed possible complications from preeclampsia, a high blood pressure disorder that can occur during pregnancy, including respiratory distress and eclampsia.

Now, in honor of their late teammate, sprinters Allyson Felix and Tianna Madison are speaking out about their own pregnancy complications and the issue of maternal mortality for Black women.

Felix said in an essay for Time published on Thursday that in 2018, when she was pregnant with her daughter, she experienced preeclampsia as well.

"The doctors sent me to the hospital, where I would deliver Camryn during an emergency C-section, at 32 weeks. I was unsure if I was going to make it. If I was ever going to hold my precious daughter," Felix said, according to Time.

Madison said earlier this week in an Instagram post that she went into labor at 26 weeks and "went to the hospital with my medical advance directive AND my will."

In their respective statements, both Olympians stressed the importance of raising awareness of the disparities in maternal healthcare that impact Black women. Madison even credited the fact that she survived childbirth to her "knowledge" of the "racism that became systemic and embedded in the healthcare system."

For Felix, that lack of knowledge was part of the reason she nearly didn't make it through her daughter's birth.

"When I became pregnant, my doctor didn't sit me down and tell me, 'these are things that you should look for in your pregnancy, because you are at a greater risk to experience these complications,'" Felix said. "That needs to change, now, especially in light of Tori's tragic passing. Awareness is huge."

"I hate that it takes Tori's situation to put this back on the map and to get people to pay attention to it," she added. "But oftentimes, we need that wake-up call."