Canoeist Viktoria Schwarz is a local athlete who also wants to attack again after pregnancy. The Upper Austrian would like to return to competitions in August, just eight months after the birth of her son. Despite her private and professional double burden, the 37-year-old has set herself the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris as a major goal. Table tennis player Liu Jia, who has had a daughter since 2011, is also back in action.
Unlike on the water or at the table tennis table, mothers are an absolute rarity in alpine skiing. There is currently no active female athlete who already has a child. On the way there is Tamara Tippler, who left it open whether she would return to the Alpine Ski World Cup after her pregnancy. In any case, she would take on a pioneering role in this regard. Tippler, who is expecting her first child, and Liu are guests on Sunday (6 p.m., live on ORF1) on the subject of mothers and competitive sports in the studio on “Sport am Sonntag”.
Felix didn’t just fight for titles
In general, however, there are still few Austrian athletes who have successfully continued their careers after pregnancy. On the other hand, some international top stars have proven that children and competitive sports can work very well. One of the most prominent examples is sprinter Allyson Felix, who rose to become the most successful track and field athlete in history after the birth of her daughter. The American, who ended her career last summer after winning the 19th World Cup medal, will not only be remembered for her sporting successes, but also for her clear stance on women’s rights.
TV notice
The broadcast “Sport on Sunday” (6 p.m., live on ORF1) deals, among other things, with the topic of mothers in top-class sport. Skier Tamara Tippler and table tennis player Liu Jia are live in the studio.
After her pregnancy, Felix fought a dispute with her longtime sponsor Nike, who wanted to pay her 70 percent less money because of the break in competition. In addition, the American felt under pressure to have to be internationally successful again as quickly as possible, despite motherhood and previous pregnancy complications. She then parted ways with Nike.
“When we have children, we risk financial losses during and after pregnancy. It’s an example of a sports industry where rules are still mostly made for and by men,” Felix wrote in the New York Times at the time. The 37-year-old made headlines, as a result of which the sporting goods manufacturer adjusted its guidelines on maternity leave.
Fraser-Pryces is hoping for a rethink
Shelly Ann Fraser-Pryce also defends against disadvantages like this: “The sponsors have to accept it more than before. Because their clientele consists largely of women – women with their own children or women who would like to have their own children. We don’t want to exclude these people, we want to include them in everything we do.” The Jamaican sprinter is therefore hoping for a rethink in the long term: “Unfortunately, a lot of women decide against pregnancy because it could endanger their careers.”
She herself, one of the most successful sprinters in history, proved that you can still be very successful after a pregnancy break. The Jamaican gave birth to her son in 2017 and made an impressive comeback at the 2019 World Championships in Doha with gold in the 100m sprint. Three years later, Fraser-Pryce was again the world’s fastest woman in Eugene. “It was a long journey. I was worried about making a comeback,” said the 36-year-old about the time after the birth. Her worries were unfounded, and she more than succeeded in returning.
Williams campaigns for more recognition
Another celebrity athlete who has also consistently raised her voice and advocated for more recognition for mothers in competitive sports is superstar Serena Williams. The 23-time Grand Slam winner took a baby break during her career and gave birth to her daughter in 2017. As a mother, she then sought to match Margaret Court’s Grand Slam record of 24 Major wins. Although Williams was in a Grand Slam final four more times after the pregnancy, she did not succeed in triumphing.
Record holder Court also took a total of three pregnancy breaks. As a mother, the 80-year-old Australian has three more Grand Slam successes. It wasn’t until she became pregnant for the fourth time in 1977 that Court ended her career.
Williams praises working moms
Williams didn’t equal Court’s record after her baby break, but she did advocate for mothers on the tennis tour to get more attention and recognition. The now 41-year-old repeatedly addressed the challenges of the double burden, for Williams working mothers are “the real heroines”. Williams finally ended her career last year at Wimbledon.
There are now some mothers on the women’s tennis tour, which would have been much more difficult a few years ago. Because only recently did the WTA start making it easier for mothers to get back on the tour. For example, the organization has adjusted the rules of the world rankings so that when players come back, they are listed where they were before the baby break. In total, they can play twelve tournaments, including two Grand Slams, with the old ranking. In addition, there is now professional childcare at almost all tournaments.
“You need a lot of support”
St. Pölten player Alexandra Biroova also wants to prove that children and a sports career can work. “It works, you just need a lot of support,” explained the defender in an interview with ORF. Biroova, who gave birth to her son in December, is currently working ambitiously on her comeback and wants to complete the pre-season with her team St. Pölten as normal from July.
The Slovak said that the exchange with Sara Björk Gunnarsdottir encouraged her. The record Icelandic international, who was also on maternity leave, told her not to be stopped because she could be a mother and an athlete at the same time.
Gunnarsdottir himself caused a stir because her former employer, the top French club Olympique Lyon, had not paid her more than 80,000 euros in wages during her pregnancy. The footballer went against it and was right. “This is a wake-up call for all clubs and a message to all players that they have rights and guarantees if they are pregnant or want to become pregnant during their career,” said Gunnarsdottir, who has been under contract with Lyon for two years from 2020 .
Björgen as mother to the record Olympian
When the Norwegian Björgen announced in the summer of 2015 that she was pregnant and would miss a World Cup season, she was the best cross-country skier in the world at the time. And she wanted to build on that after the pregnancy, her goal was to be fit again for the World Championships in Lahti.
And she did it, Björgen won four world titles in the 2017 title fights, at the 2018 Olympic Games in Pyeongchang she won two gold medals and was crowned the most successful winter Olympic athlete in history with a total of 15 Olympic medals, including eight gold medals. Despite the success, Björgen admitted: “It’s not easy to be a mother and a top athlete at the same time.”
“There’s still a lot of room for improvement”
Luge athlete Nathalie Geisenberger also celebrated a successful comeback after the birth of her son. The German returned to the World Cup almost half a year after giving birth and secured the overall World Cup for the eighth time in 2021. A few months after crowning herself a double Olympic champion at the 2022 Beijing Olympics, Geisenberger announced that she was expecting her second child.
It is still unclear whether the 35-year-old will make a comeback after the birth of her daughter. In any case, Geisenberger is of the opinion that more should be done for mothers in competitive sports. “There’s still a lot of room for improvement,” she replied when asked if there was enough support for mothers. “You have to talk a lot about it, then maybe something will change.”
