Pregnant Olympians: Breaking Barriers in Sports

Pregnancy and Perseverance: A New Chapter for Olympic Athletes

In recent years, social media, particularly Instagram, has become a platform where many Olympic athletes share their journeys, including their triumphs, challenges, and emotional moments. Following her fencing event last week, Egypt’s Nada Hafez revealed a deeply personal aspect of her experience. She disclosed that she was not only competing but also pregnant, having carried her child for seven months at the time of the event.

“What appears to you as two players on the podium, they were actually three!” Hafez expressed in an emotional post, accompanied by a poignant image of her during the match. “It was me, my competitor, and our little baby, yet to come into this world!” Despite the challenges, Hafez made a remarkable achievement, finishing 16th—her best result across three Olympic appearances.

In a similar vein, Azerbaijani archer Yaylagul Ramazanova also took to Instagram to share that she competed while six-and-a-half months pregnant. Speaking to the Chinese agency Xinhua News, she recounted feeling her baby kick just before taking a shot—only to score a perfect 10, the highest possible score in archery.

While there have been pregnant Olympians and Paralympians in the past, such occurrences remain rare for understandable reasons. Most previous stories involve athletes competing much earlier in their pregnancies or not even realizing they were expecting. For instance, US beach volleyball star Kerri Walsh Jennings won her third gold medal while unknowingly five weeks pregnant with her third child. “When I was throwing my body around fearlessly, and going for gold for our country, I was pregnant,” she later shared on the “Today” program after the London Games in 2012. Walsh Jennings and her husband, Casey, who is also a beach volleyball player, had only recently begun trying to conceive, believing it would take time. However, her partner Misty May-Treanor astutely remarked, “You’re probably pregnant,” which turned out to be true.

‘It’s safe to work out, train and compete at a very high level’

As attitudes and knowledge surrounding pregnancy evolve, more female athletes are choosing to push boundaries. Dr. Kathryn Ackerman, a sports medicine physician and co-chair of the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee’s women’s health task force, noted, “This is something we’re seeing more and more of. Women are dispelling the myth that you can’t exercise at a high level when you’re pregnant.” Ackerman observed that while there is still limited data on this subject, current medical guidance supports that if an athlete is in good health prior to pregnancy and faces no complications, they can safely engage in training and competition at a high level. However, she cautioned that high-risk sports, such as ski racing, might pose greater dangers.

In sports like fencing, where athletes wear protective gear, or in less physically demanding disciplines such as archery or shooting, there are far fewer restrictions on participation during pregnancy. Yet, the decision to compete while expecting is not just about physical capability; it carries significant emotional weight. Female athletes must navigate complex choices regarding their careers and family planning—decisions that male athletes typically do not face to the same extent.

Serena Williams, who famously won the Australian Open in 2017 while pregnant, later articulated the tough choice she faced when she wanted to have a second child. “Believe me, I never wanted to have to choose between tennis and a family,” Williams, a four-time Olympic gold medalist, reflected in a Vogue essay. “I don’t think it’s fair. If I were a guy, I wouldn’t be writing this because I’d be out there playing and winning while my wife was doing the physical labor of expanding our family.” Williams welcomed her second child, Adira River Ohanian, in 2023, joining her first daughter, Olympia.

Interestingly, the name Olympia was suggested to US softball player Michele Granger by her mother while Granger was pitching the gold-medal-winning game in Atlanta in 1996. Her husband proposed the name Athena, but Granger ultimately chose a different name: Kady, as she wanted to avoid any associations with her sport.

Balancing Sacrifice and Courage

The decision to balance motherhood with a sports career involves various factors that differ by sport and country. Franchina Martinez, a 24-year-old track athlete from the Dominican Republic, noted that more female athletes retire early compared to their male counterparts, often due to pregnancy. “When they get pregnant, they believe they won’t be able to return, unlike in more developed countries where they might have better support,” Martinez explained. “So they quit the sport, don’t return to compete, or find they aren’t the same.” For her career’s sake, she has decided to postpone starting a family, stating, “As long as I can avoid it for the sake of my sport, I will postpone it because I am not ready for that yet.”

At the recent fencing venue in Paris, spectators were divided between admiration for Hafez’s bravery and concern about the risks she faced. “There are certainly sports that are less violent,” remarked Pauline Dutertre, 29, a former international sabre competitor. “It is, after all, a combat sport.” However, she acknowledged, “In any case, it is courageous. Even without making it to the podium, what she did was brave.”

Marilyne Barbey, attending the fencing event with her family, expressed similar concerns but added, “You can fall anywhere, at any time. And, in the end, it is her choice.” Ramazanova, who was visibly pregnant during her competition, also garnered admiration from both fans and fellow athletes, ultimately reaching the final 32 in her event.

US athlete Casey Kaufhold, who earned a bronze medal in the mixed team category, praised Ramazanova’s accomplishments. “I think it’s awesome that we see more expecting mothers shooting in the Olympic Games, and it’s great to have one in the sport of archery,” she said. “She shot really well, and I think it’s inspiring because my coach is also a mother, balancing her responsibilities while supporting her kids.” Kaufhold expressed hope that Ramazanova’s journey would encourage more mothers and expectant mothers to participate in sports. She added a heartfelt sentiment for the mom-to-be: “I think it’s incredible for this archer to tell her child one day, ‘Hey, I went to the Olympic Games, and you were there, too.'”