Training for Gold While Raising a Baby: Olympic Moms Through the Decades
For over a century, women have been winning gold at the Olympics, but it wasn’t until the 2024 Paris Olympics that The Games achieved gender parity. A major barrier still facing elite women athletes: Policies supporting pregnant athletes and athletes raising young children are lagging. There’s been some progress along the way. In 2022, after […]
For over a century, women have been winning gold at the Olympics, but it wasn’t until the 2024 Paris Olympics that The Games achieved gender parity. A major barrier still facing elite women athletes: Policies supporting pregnant athletes and athletes raising young children are lagging.
There’s been some progress along the way. In 2022, after a number of high-profile Olympic athletes spoke out about their experiences losing sponsorships and health coverage, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee directed the National Governing Bodies of each sport to include provisions with certain protections for athletes during pregnancy and the postpartum period. At the 2024 Paris Games, the first ever Olympic Village Nursery was created with dedicated space where athletes could spend time with there children, and private space for breastfeeding mothers. That was a big shift since children and family members of competing athletes are generally not allowed in the Olympic Village.
As the photographs below reveal, generations of mothers have competed while pregnant, or with their children cheering from the stands. The path to motherhood is often demanding in any context — but for Olympians, who train and compete year-round, it can be especially taxing. Here’s a glimpse into the unique challenges facing Olympic moms.
In 1900, Margaret Ives Abbott became the first American woman to take first place in an Olympic event, the women’s golf tournament in Paris. She was a mother of four. (Wikimedia Commons)Magda Julin in 1921. Julin was a Swedish figure skater who won gold in 1920 while four months pregnant (Wikimedia Commons)Fanny Blankers-Koen, a Dutch mother of two, at the London Olympics in 1948. She became the first woman athlete in Olympic history to win four gold medals. (Getty Images)Wilma Rudolph, winner of three gold medals for the U.S. Olympic track and field team, trains her 14-year-old daughter, Yolanda, at their home in 1973. (Getty Images)Wilma Rudolph, center, with all of her children in 1974. (Getty Images)Canadian hockey player Hayley Wickenheiser of Team Canada holds her son Noah as she celebrates her team’s gold-medal win at the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah, in 2002. (Getty Images)Olympic Gold medalist Uschi Disl lifts weights while five months pregnant at the Champion of the Year Week in Antalya, Turkey, in 2006. (Getty Images)Kerri Walsh Jennings holds her sons Sundance and Joey as she celebrates with the crowd after she and her partner Misty May-Treanor defeated Jennifer Kessy and April Ross in the women’s beach volleyball gold medal match at the London Olympics in 2012. (Getty Images)Olympian Alysia Montaño competes while pregnant in the opening round of the women’s 800 meter run during the USATF Outdoor Championships in Sacramento, California, in 2014. (Getty Images) Nia Ali of Team USA celebrates with her son Titus after winning the silver medal in the Women’s 100m Hurdles at the Rio Olympic Games in 2016. (Getty Images)Allyson Felix and Quanera Hayes celebrate with their children after placing second and first respectively in the Women’s 400 Meters Final at the U.S. Olympic Track & Field Team Trials in 2021. (Getty Images)Olympics water poloist Keesja Gofers plays with her daughter in the first Olympic Village Nursery during the Paris Olympic games in 2024. (Getty Images)Archer Yaylagul Ramazanova of Azerbaijan competes while pregnant in the Paris Olympic Games in 2024. (Getty Images)British archer Jodie Grinham holds her baby bump after winning a bronze medal at the Paris Paralympic Games in 2024. (Getty Images)Helen Glover’s partner with their children watch her win a silver medal in the Women’s Rowing Four event at the Paris Olympic Games in 2024. (Getty Images) Great Britain’s Amber Rutter with her son Tommy after winning a silver medal in the women’s skeet at the Chateauroux Shooting Centre at the Paris Olympic Games in 2024. (Getty Images)Sami Whitcomb of Team Australia celebrates with her child after their victory during the Women’s Bronze Medal game between Team Belgium and Team Australia at the Paris Olympic Games on Aug. 11, 2024. (Getty Images)Australian water poloist Keesja Gofers of Team Australia celebrates victory with her daughter at the Paris Olympic Games in 2024. (Getty Images)Kaillie Armbruster Humphries holds her new baby following the Women’s Monobob Race Heat 4 on at the 2025 IBSF World Championships in Lake Placid, New York. (Getty Images)Olympic bobsledder Elena Meyers Taylor shares a message written to her children at the 2025 IBSF World Championships in Lake Placid, New York. (Getty Images)
