Athlete parents participating in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games will have a new facility to help balance their roles as both elite sports competitors and caregivers. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has announced the first Olympic Village nursery, designed to allow athletes quality time with their children during the events.
"The IOC and IOC Athletes' Commission want to ensure that pregnancy and motherhood do not mean a career end for female athletes," the IOC stated. Allyson Felix, an 11-time Olympic medalist, praised the nursery as a "shift in culture," saying it allows women to be top athletes without compromising motherhood.
British rower Mathilda Hodgkins-Byrne utilized GoFundMe to support her trip to the Games while managing childcare expenses. Similarly, New Zealand rowers Brooke Francis and Lucy Spoors, who both gave birth about two years ago, will rely on family support during the competitions. Their training often included conversations about the number of wake-ups they had the night prior to tend to their infants. When exhaustion set in, they sang kids' songs in the boat as a way to cheer themselves up.
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Olympians have previously faced challenges balancing parenthood and competition. Restrictions at the Tokyo Olympics, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, led to criticism from athletes like Canadian basketball player Kim Gaucher. The new nursery aims to address these issues, providing greater support and resources for parent athletes, ensuring that family and high-level athletic performance are not mutually exclusive goals. (This story was generated by Newser's AI chatbot. Source: the AP)
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