While motherhood was once seen as incompatible with a career in high-performance sport, mothers who are also Olympic athletes have shown that old stereotypes are weakening in judo, fencing, basketball and other sports.
With the changing tide for those traveling to the Olympics with children, former American sprinter Allyson Felix has partnered with Pampers to establish the first daycare center for athletes’ children.
Felix, the most decorated athlete in Olympic history with 11 podium finishes, told Reuters that the facilities could level the playing field between athletes with plenty of resources at their disposal and those without.
“We’re talking about (athletes from) countries that may be very small and lacking in resources. We know how expensive it is,” said Felix, who resumed her competitive career after becoming a mother for the first time in 2018.
She said there had been progress since revealing five years ago that she was splitting with sponsor Nike after the company cut her pay when she became pregnant.
“There has been a cultural shift,” she said. The nursery reflects the growing need for resources for the Games, with athletes challenging old stereotypes about sports mothers.
That’s especially true in Lille, where American basketball player Breanna Stewart said there were more children than ever in her delegation. “Speaking for the moms, especially the ones who are here at the Olympics, we want to be great at both,” said Stewart, who is competing in her third Games. “We just want to keep changing the norm, changing the narrative.”
The player’s daughter, Ruby, was born via surrogate less than 48 hours after Team USA won gold at the Tokyo Games. The athlete and her wife, former Spanish player Marta Xargay, welcomed another son, Theo, last year.
Fans in Paris welcomed the presence of mothers competing at a high level: “Careers don’t have to end when you have a baby, and that’s beautiful,” said Frenchwoman Auriane Sanchez, 21, who watched compatriot Clarisse Agbegnenou win bronze in judo on Tuesday.
The judoka, who gave birth to her daughter in 2022, led a campaign for the French Olympic Committee to provide hotel rooms for athletes who are breastfeeding.
“It’s amazing to come back like this after pregnancy. A little girl that I’m still breastfeeding. It’s crazy. I can be proud of myself. I’ll put the medal around my daughter’s neck,” she said.
Brazilian judoka Natasha Ferreira, who adopted her son seven years ago when she was 18, said she welcomed the help she received in Paris.
“Athletes already have to be very disciplined, and when you have a child, you have to be even more disciplined to be able to have quality time,” she said. “It was really nice to have my son with me at the Olympics.”
