Olympics-Athlete mums see 'shift in culture' at Paris Games

By Amy Tennery and Sophie Penney

PARIS (Reuters) - While motherhood was once seen as incompatible with a career in competitive sport, Olympian mums have shown that old stereotypes are giving way, from judo to fencing, basketball and beyond.

With times changing for competitors who travel to the Olympics with kids in tow, retired track great Allyson Felix has partnered with Pampers to set up a first-of-its kind nursery for athlete parents and their children.

Felix, the most decorated female track and field athlete in Olympic history with 11 medals, told Reuters the facility could help level the playing field between athletes with vast resources and those without.

"We're talking about (athletes from) countries that can be very small, can be underfunded. And we know that how expensive it is," said Felix, who resumed her competitive career after giving birth to her first child in 2018.

Felix says there has been progress since she revealed five years ago that she split with sponsor Nike after the athletics mega-brand cut her pay when she got pregnant.

"There's been a shift in culture," she said, and the nursery reflects a growing need for resources at the Games, as athletes buck old stereotypes about working mothers in sport.

"It's being viewed differently... Now you're seeing women who feel like at the peak of their careers, they can have children if they choose to and that doesn't mean that they are going to stop competing."

That much is evident in Lille, where U.S. basketball player Breanna Stewart said there were more kids than ever before within her delegation.

"Speaking for moms, especially those that are here in the Olympics, we want to be great at both," said Stewart, who is competing in her third Olympics. "We just want to continue to change the standard, change the narrative."

Stewart's daughter, Ruby, was famously born via surrogacy less than 48 hours after the U.S. team won gold in Tokyo.

She and her wife, retired Spanish basketball player Marta Xargay, welcomed their son, Theo, last year.

Stewart, a twice MVP in the WNBA, said Ruby will celebrate her third birthday at the Games: "There's a ton of kids with our team USA group. So I'm sure we'll find something fun."

Fans in Paris said the sight of athlete mothers at the highest level of their sport was a welcome change.

"Careers don't stop when you have a baby, and that is beautiful," said French fan Auriane Sanchez, 21, who watched compatriot Clarisse Agbegnenou pick up bronze in judo on Tuesday.

Agbegnenou, who gave birth to her daughter in 2022, led a campaign to get the French Olympic Committee to provide hotel rooms for breastfeeding French athletes.

"That's incredible to come back like this after a pregnancy. A little girl that I'm still breastfeeding - that's crazy. I can be proud of me. I'll put the medal around my daughter's neck," she said.

Brazilian judoka Natasha Ferreira, who adopted her son seven years ago when she was 18, said she welcomed the support she got in Paris.

"Athletes already have to be very disciplined and when you have a son you will have to be even more disciplined to be able to have quality time," she told Reuters. "It was really good to have my son with me in the Olympics."

(Reporting by Amy Tennery and Sophie Penney in Paris, additional reporting by Lori Ewing and Miguel Pereira; Editing by Toby Davis)