海角大神

Fencing while pregnant? Some Olympians are expecting more than competition.

Olympic athletes are competing later in pregnancy, pushing the boundaries of what pregnant people can physically achieve. One Egyptian fencer recently revealed that she was seven months pregnant when she achieved her best result in three Olympics.

First Look

Many Olympic athletes take to Instagram to share news of their exploits, trials, victories, and heartbreaks. After her fencing event ended last week, Egypt鈥檚 Nada Hafez shared a little bit more.

She鈥檇 been fencing for two, the athlete revealed 鈥� and in fact had been pregnant for seven months.

鈥淲hat appears to you as two players on the podium, they were actually three!鈥� Ms. Hafez wrote, under an emotional picture of her during the match. 鈥淚t was me, my competitor, & my yet-to-come to our world, little baby!鈥� Mom (and baby) finished the competition ranked 16th, Ms. Hafez鈥檚 best result in three Olympics.

A day later, an Azerbaijani archer was also revealed on Instagram to have competed while six-and-a-half months pregnant. Yaylagul Ramazanova told Xinhua News she鈥檇 felt her baby kick before she took a shot 鈥� and then shot a 10, the maximum number of points.

There have been pregnant Olympians and Paralympians before, though the phenomenon is rare for obvious reasons. Still, most stories have been of athletes competing when they鈥檙e far earlier in their pregnancies 鈥� or not even far enough along to know they were expecting.

Like U.S. beach volleyball star Kerri Walsh Jennings, who won her third gold medal while, unknowingly, five weeks pregnant with her third child.

鈥淲hen I was throwing my body around fearlessly, and going for gold for our country, I was pregnant,鈥� she said on 鈥淭oday鈥� after the London Games in 2012. She and husband Casey (also a beach volleyball player) had only started trying to conceive right before the Olympics, she said, figuring it would take time. But she felt different, and volleyball partner Misty May-Treanor said to her 鈥� presciently, it turned out 鈥� 鈥淵ou're probably pregnant.鈥�

It makes sense that pregnant athletes are pushing boundaries now, one expert says, as both attitudes and knowledge develop about what women can do deep into pregnancy.

鈥淭his is something we鈥檙e seeing more and more of,鈥� says Dr. Kathryn Ackerman, a sports medicine physician and co-chair of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee鈥檚 women鈥檚 health task force, 鈥渁s women are dispelling the myth that you can鈥檛 exercise at a high level when you鈥檙e pregnant.鈥�

Dr. Ackerman notes there鈥檚 been little data, and so past decisions on the matter have often been arbitrary. But, she says, 鈥渄octors now recommend that if an athlete is in good condition going into pregnancy, and there are no complications, then it鈥檚 safe to work out, train, and compete at a very high level.鈥� An exception, she says, might be something like ski racing, where the risk of a bad fall is great.

But in fencing, says the Boston-based Dr. Ackerman, there is clearly protective padding for athletes, and in less physically strenuous sports like archery or shooting, there鈥檚 absolutely no reason a woman can鈥檛 compete.

It鈥檚 not just an issue of physical fitness, of course. It is deeply emotional. Deciding whether and how to compete while trying to also grow a family is a thorny calculus that male athletes simply don鈥檛 have to consider 鈥� at least in anywhere near the same way.

Just ask Serena Williams, who famously won the Australian Open in 2017 while pregnant with her first child. When, some five years later, she wanted to try for a second, she stepped back from tennis 鈥� an excruciating decision.

鈥淏elieve me, I never wanted to have to choose between tennis and a family,鈥� Ms. Williams 鈥� who won four Olympic golds 鈥� wrote in a Vogue essay. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think it鈥檚 fair. If I were a guy, I wouldn鈥檛 be writing this because I鈥檇 be out there playing and winning while my wife was doing the physical labor of expanding our family. Maybe I鈥檇 be more of a Tom Brady if I had that opportunity.鈥�

Ms. Williams welcomed Adira River Ohanian in 2023, joining older sister Olympia. And Olympia was the name that U.S. softball player Michele Granger鈥檚 mother reportedly suggested for the baby Ms. Granger was carrying when she pitched the gold-medal winning game in Atlanta in 1996. Her husband suggested the name Athena. Ms. Granger preferred neither.

鈥淚 didn鈥檛 want to make that connection with her name,鈥� said Ms. Granger to Gold Country Media in 2011. The baby was named Kady.

At the Paris fencing venue over the weekend, fans were mixed between admiration for the bravery and determination of Ms. Hafez, a聽 gymnast with a degree in medicine, and speculation about whether it was risky.

鈥淭here are certainly sports that are less violent,鈥� said Pauline Dutertre, sitting outside the elegant Grand Palais during a break in action alongside her father, 海角大神. Ms. Dutertre had competed herself on the international circuit in saber until 2013. 鈥淚t is, after all, a combat sport.鈥�

鈥淚n any case,鈥� she noted, 鈥渋t is courageous. Even without making it to the podium, what she did was brave.鈥�

Marilyne Barbey, attending the fencing from Annecy in southeastern France with her family, wondered about safety, too, but added: 鈥淵ou can fall anywhere, at any time. And, in the end, it is her choice.鈥�

Ms. Ramazanova, who was visibly pregnant when competing, also earned admiration, including from her peers. She reached the final 32 in her event.

Casey Kaufhold, an American who earned bronze in the mixed team category, said it was 鈥渞eally cool鈥� to see her Azerbaijani colleague achieving what she did.

鈥淚 think it鈥檚 awesome that we see more expecting mothers shooting in the Olympic Games and it鈥檚 great to have one in the sport of archery,鈥� she said in comments to The Associated Press. 鈥淪he shot really well, and I think it鈥檚 really cool because my coach is also a mother and she鈥檚 been doing so much to support her kids even while she鈥檚 away.鈥�

Ms. Kaufhold said she hoped Ms. Ramazanova鈥檚 run would inspire more mothers and expectant mothers to compete. And she had a more personal thought for the mom-to-be:

鈥淚 think it鈥檚 awesome for this archer that one day, she can tell her kid, 鈥楬ey, I went to the Olympic Games and you were there, too.鈥欌��

This story was reported by The Associated Press. AP journalist Cliff Brunt contributed from Paris.