Being an Olympic athlete is already one of the most challenging jobs. You have to train all the time and really dedicate your life to the sport to have a chance at winning. But these Olympic mothers show that you really can have it all. They have children and thriving sports careers.
To be fair, Olympians with kids often have to work even harder than an average athlete to stay successful. Training while pregnant, taking time off, and coming back after giving birth aren’t easy things to achieve. But these 14 mamas are fighters, and they were determined to have it all.
With several of them competing in the Tokyo Olympics, it’ll be so inspiring to see them balance mom life and work life — and hopefully score a few medals along the way.
Volleyball Star Kerri Walsh Jennings
The mom of three (and most decorated Olympian in beach volleyball) was actually five weeks pregnant when she competed and won the gold medal at the 2012 Olympics. After giving birth several months later, she got right back into the sport. She qualified for the 2016 Olympics and won a bronze medal in Rio.
Pistol Shooter Enkelejda Shehaj
The Olympic pistol shooter had her sporting dreams put on the backburner when she suddenly became a single mother. She put the needs of her family first, deciding to open a restaurant to make the kind of money she needed to provide for her daughter. But after taking two decades off to be a mom first, she was able to return to the Olympics in 2016. Now that’s an inspiring comeback story!
Cyclist Kristin Armstrong
In 2009, Kristin Armstrong retired from cycling, fearing that putting her body through such intense training would making having a baby difficult. But once she had her son, she decided to return to the sport. “During my pregnancy, I actually rode quite a bit,” she told ESPN of her continued love for cycling. When she started training again, she gave herself four hours a day, while her sister-in-law watched her son. She went on to compete in the 2012 and 2016 Olympics.
Fencer Mariel Zagunis
To stay in tip-top shape, fencing champ Mariel Zagunis trained well into her ninth month of pregnancy. “I was doing a lot through the whole pregnancy, actually,” she told USA Fencing. “I wasn’t doing as much on the fencing side as things went on, but I was doing a lot of cross-training and I think that it helped my pregnancy go smoothly.”
Snowboarder Torah Bright
When Australian snowboarding champ Torah Bright posted a photo of her breastfeeding her son while doing a handstand, she caught some flak for being an “attention-seeker” (LOL, OK). But we’re just impressed with how Torah is such a hands-on mom while still being such an active athlete. As seen in this video, she’s been skateboarding with her little one too — as well as surfing.
Tennis Star Serena Williams
Serena Williams is not competing in the Tokyo Olympics, in part because she didn’t want to leave her daughter behind for so long. In the past, she’s talked about how she tries to prioritize her daughter alongside her love of the sport. For instance, when Olympia needed some attention, Serena did her warm-up stretches while holding her.
Serena's Made a Lot of Sacrifices for Olympia
Serena doesn’t just hold her daughter while stretching. When Olympia was first born, Serena went against the (totally insensitive) advice from her coach to stop breastfeeding so she could get back in playing shape faster. Instead, Serena breastfed for eight months because she wanted that bonding time with her little one.
Cyclist Sarah Storey
Like Serena, cyclist and swimmer Sarah Storey breastfed even as she was training. Olympics.com reported that she said it actually helped her as an athlete. “Your baby is settled, not crying, not upset, and you can focus on the job that you’ve got to do as an athlete.” Well said!
Basketball Star Skylar Diggins-Smith
The Olympian is also mom to a 2-year-old son, Daniel, and she’s been outspoken about the WNBA’s need to help mothers in the sport by providing things like postpartum mental health support and child care league wide. For now, she told FIBA that she often brings her son along to workouts. “I bring my son to the gym, and he’ll watch me work out or watch me lift and he gets to see it,” she said.
Basketball Player Kim Gaucher
Canadian basketball star Kim Gaucher almost had to choose between the Olympics and her child when she was initially told that no children were allowed to go with athletes to Tokyo. Kim is a breastfeeding mother and had to scramble to figure out what to do. She publicly called for an exception to be made while working behind the scenes to see if she would be able to ship milk home to her child. Fortunately, the Olympics reversed its decision, and breastfeeding athletes can now attend with their babies.
Runner Sally Kipyego
The marathoner had to stop training at 18 weeks pregnant, and her road to recovery post-birth was arduous. “Physically, I feel a lot has changed,” she told Runner’s World. “My body is different. My body kind of fell apart after giving birth. But mentally, I’m stronger.” That mental toughness combined with a rigorous training schedule helped Sally qualify for this year’s Olympics.
Volleyball Player Foluke Akinradewo Gunderson
Volleyball requires a lot of core strength, and Foluke Akinradewo Gunderson struggled with that after giving birth to her child, Kayode. “[With the] diastasis recti, I had no core strength whatsoever,” she told Olympics.com. She added that downtime is almost nonexistent now as well. “As an athlete before, if I was done with practice, it’s a day off; I need to just veg on the couch and recover. But that’s impossible to do with a toddler.”
Track Star Allyson Felix
Allyson Felix didn’t have the kind of pregnancy you quickly bounce back from. She gave birth two months early via an emergency C-section in 2018. According to CBS, her daughter weighed 3 pounds and spent nearly a month in the NICU. But Allyson persevered through all of that to return to the sport she loves. Now her little one often joins her at practice.
Marathoner Aliphine Tuliamuk
Originally, Aliphine Tuliamuk had planned to start a family after the 2020 Olympics. But when the event got postponed, she used that off time to have her daughter. Post-birth, she had to get back into shape quickly for Tokyo. “It was a risky move,” she told NBC Sports. “The window we had was very small.”
Soccer Player Alex Morgan
Alex gave birth to her daughter, Charlie, in 2020, but she never let go of her desire to go to the Olympics again. So while she was pregnant, she kept on training, just in modified ways. “I wasn’t doing things that would put my body in total exhaustion like I would do before pregnancy. I was just giving myself a little bit more grace with that in knowing that I was growing a baby,” she told Prevention. For her, that meant spinning, running, and walking as long as her body felt OK.
