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Expecting a child, and a medal
Summary
At several global tournaments, including the recent Paris Olympics and Paralympics, sportswomen have shown that pregnancy is not a physical impediment
Perfectly still, that’s what archers want to be as they stand on the spot, ready to release the arrow. They try and tame the racing heart, control the breathing, quieten the mind and cajole every muscle into sync. There was something else Jodie Grinham had to take care of as she competed in the bronze medal match in the women’s individual compound archery event at the 2024 Paris Paralympics.
“The baby’s kicking, which is great—we got to the third end and I was like, ‘Not right now, mommy loves you but we’ll do kickies in a minute," British archer Grinham, who was seven months pregnant during the mega-event, told paralympic.org. “It’s like the baby is going, ‘What’s going on, it’s really loud, mommy, what are you doing?’ But it’s been like a little honour knowing that the baby’s there and just a reminder of the little support bubble that I’ve got in my tummy."
Also read: Paris Olympics 2024: A mix of first impressions and closing acts
Grinham became the first openly pregnant Paralympic medallist as she edged Phoebe Paterson Pine 142-141 for the bronze. But the 31-year-old wasn’t the only one with a baby on the way to compete at this year’s Olympics and Paralympics. Azerbaijan’s Yaylagul Ramazanova competed in women’s recurve archery while six-and-a-half months pregnant and felt her baby kick before she shot a 10 to win the 1/32 round. Egyptian fencer Nada Hafez revealed that she was seven months pregnant during the Olympics.
“What appears to you as two players on the podium, they were actually three! It was me, my competitor, & my yet-to-come to our world, little baby!" Hafez posted on social media. “The roller coaster of pregnancy is tough on its own, but having to fight to keep the balance of life & sports was nothing short of strenuous, however worth it."
A complicated conversation
While Grinham, Ramazanova and Hafez are not the first expecting mothers to compete in elite sport, they are furthering the conversation about career sportswomen and motherhood. As recently as 2019, former Nike runner Phoebe Wright said, “Getting pregnant is the kiss of death for a female athlete." These notions have prevailed despite sportswomen competing during pregnancy and coming back strong after childbirth.
Tennis ace Serena Williams was seven weeks pregnant when she won the 2017 Australian Open, while beach volleyball player Kerri Walsh Jennings won her third gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics five weeks into her pregnancy. German archer Cornelia Pfohl competed in two Olympics (2000 and 2004) while pregnant, winning a bronze in at the 2000 Sydney Games.
Meanwhile, Paula Radcliffe returned to running only 12 days after the birth of her first child, winning the 2007 New York marathon 10 months later. Williams, track star Allyson Felix, British heptathlete Jessic Ennis all made successful comebacks from childbirth. Closer home, Sania Mirza, Karnam Malleswari, Shiny Wilson and Deepika Kumari have returned to the field as mothers. Boxing legend M.C. Mary Kom won an Olympic medal and three of her six world championship golds after giving birth. It’s the age of the supermoms.
“It is a heartening trend," says Dr Ashok Ahuja, who has worked in sports medicine for over 40 years and is a former Sports Authority of India (SAI) doctor. “People used to have misconceptions but as medical professionals we have been always saying that pregnancy should be considered as a normal physiological process. Unless of course there are any complications."
In case of normal, healthy pregnancies, he adds, athletes can train well into the second trimester. The exception to this is contact sports. In precision sports like archery or shooting, athletes can train and compete even in their third trimester. “In precision sports the posture, mechanics, how to stabilise the body is important," adds Ahuja. “What we worry about in the third trimester is the girth. Bio-mechanically, the gait of the mother will change. Then we don’t want heart rate to go high or it affects the baby’s heart rate."
Malaysian rifle shooter Nur Suryani Mohamed Taibi was eight months pregnant when she competed at the 2012 London Olympics. Though she had to modify her stance, Taibi later said that the added weight made her more stable.
Inspiring and empowering
Studies have also shown that in the first few weeks of pregnancy, certain physiological modifications that occur may in fact boost athletic performance. There is an increase in aerobic capacity—the body’s ability to carry oxygen to muscles—and glucose is metabolised more efficiently.
“Cardiac output (CO, amount of blood pumped by the heart in a minute) increases by about 50% of the resting CO over the non-pregnant woman," says Dr Rupali Dharwadkar, an obstetrician and gynaecologist based in Mumbai.
“This is to ensure that the blood supply to the foetus is improved. Heart rate increases 15-20 beats per minute over the non-pregnant state. Stroke volume is the amount of blood your heart sends to your body in one heart beat and it increases by 10% by the end of first trimester. Theoretically, due to physiological changes the exercise capacity or tolerance may increase but practically it differs from individual to individual."
Also read: How a group of champion women is driving India’s Olympics dreams
On the flip side, the hormonal havoc wreaked in the first trimester also leads to fatigue and morning sickness. “There may be times when forget pursuing sport, even day-to-day activities seem difficult," adds Dr Dharwadkar. The general consensus is that staying active and exercise can aid a healthy pregnancy. But medical professionals are wary of a one-size-fits-all approach. Everybody is unique and their journey is determined by a multitude of factors—physical, social, genetic, economic and cultural. Even issues like access to information and medical help and a robust support system play a part.
“It is definitely inspiring and empowering and a great story to tell," says former badminton player Aparna Popat. “But having been in that position, it’s a very personal journey."
“One thing I will say is that being an athlete helped through the journey because your body is much stronger," Popat adds. “We are so used to having aches and pains, going through tough times, sometimes you don’t get sleep. Maybe we are in a better position to handle the body’s changes. It’s a question of how you take care of your body through pregnancy, and maybe that also helped me. Just the discipline of maybe the doctor saying ‘this is the routine then that’s what you stick to’. If they say ‘avoid this food’, you do it."
Given that the sporting world is just warming up to sporting super moms, there isn’t a whole lot of research available in the area. A paper titled, Sports Obstetrics: Implications of Pregnancy in Elite Sportswomen, a Narrative Review, published in 2022 in the US journal Study in National Library of Medicine, concluded that “there is little guidance regarding the obstetric management of athletes".
With every win, sportswomen are not only chipping away at archaic attitudes but forcing change. Athletes are now competing well into their 30s due to the advances in sports science, and more women pursuing sport and motherhood may compel a deeper understanding.
And it is an important one, especially since the 2024 Olympics espoused gender parity and 49% of the participants were women. At the Paralympics, female participation was at a record high of 1,983—45% of the total number of competitors.
It hasn’t been a linear, logical progression. But from pregnancy being viewed as a career-ending decision, to athletes sporting baby bumps at major tournaments, the narrative has changed significantly.
Deepti Patwardhan is a sportswriter based in Mumbai
