When a mother competes at an Olympic Games, she doesn’t suddenly stop being a mother. That’s the message that athletes are eager to get across at Paris 2024. Those female athletes with children are all too used to having to choose between their career or their children – with many previously struggling to care for their children during an Olympic Games. Now, for the first time in history, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Paris 2024 have created a dedicated space for families, mothers, and children. It’s a welcomed addition to the Olympic Village, which has been celebrated by the trailblazing athletes who choose to breastfeed whilst competing. CLICK HERE for more:
Marathon runner Aliphine Tuliamuk was not allowed to have daughter Zoe stay with her in the athletes’ village at Tokyo 2020 Nishat Ladha. BBC Sport Africa
“I cried a lot on the bus ride to the Olympic village. I was just watching videos of my baby and looking at her pictures. Then I got there, and I just couldn’t sleep without her.” When marathon runner Aliphine Tuliamuk headed off to the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, one thing was clear: she was not going to travel without her six-month-old daughter Zoe. The unique set-up of the Games came in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, with the marathon held in the northern Japanese city of Sapporo. It meant Tuliamuk could be with her family – except on a distressing first night when she stayed at the athletes’ village in Tokyo where children were banned. As a result, for one night she was separated from her baby who she was breastfeeding.
“The first time I ever slept without Zoe was in the village. Zoe and my husband stayed in a hotel. That was really hard,” Tuliamuk told BBC Sport Africa.”I was so engorged. I was pumping and thinking ‘My baby is not even here with me’ – then I called them and she was crying, losing her mind because she didn’t understand why her mum is not there.” It is why the Kenya-born American runner welcomes the new provisions for nursing mothers and child carers at Paris 2024, including a dedicated space for children in the athletes’ village. “I am just so happy that in only four years from when I couldn’t be with my baby, it’s now changed to where they have facilities for them. That is pretty incredible.”
What does Paris 2024 offer nursing mothers and child carers?
Olympic athletes are able to book a slot online to access the nursery with their children and caregivers
The issue of when to stop breastfeeding was one that Tuliamuk, like many sporting mothers, had to wrestle with. The World Health Organisation and the United Nations Children’s Fund recommend that children be exclusively breastfed for the first six months of life and continue to breastfeed alongside adequate food until they are two or beyond. “I was going to breastfeed for three or four months which would still give me about two and a half months before the Olympics,” Tuliamuk explained. “But once my daughter arrived, I realised that stopping breastfeeding was not on the cards for me. It was just something I loved so much.” Such experiences prompted the International Olympic Committee (IOC) executive board and Paris 2024 to create a dedicated space for children for the first time in Olympic history.
“We’re taking a lot of lessons from Tokyo and the previous Games and we want to constantly improve on the athlete experience,” Emma Terho, chair of the IOC athletes’ commission, told BBC Africa. “We have more and more athletes that have very young children, and mothers that are continuing their career quite soon after giving birth. “They can concentrate a lot better on competing if there is a facility that enables them to have a child with a caregiver close by at the Olympic Games.”
So, what can nursing mothers and child carers expect? The creche offers space and privacy for breastfeeding mothers who will be able to pump and store their milk. There are also nappy changing facilities and play areas. Overnight accommodation is available outside the village, if national Olympic committees (NOCs) agree to fund it. Terho, a former Winter Olympian, says there is a booking system for those who need it most.”We wanted to make sure there is this space where they [competitors] can be in quiet and privacy, still able to focus on probably the highlight of their career,” she said.
But what about other Olympic areas?
Tuliamuk says the Sapporo marathon site in 2021 was not set up for nursing mums. After a late change to the start time because of the heat, she was not able to express her milk in the hotel. “I got to the starting line where we had a tent for Team USA, but there was no place to breastfeed or pump,” the 35-year-old said. “I would have needed to go to the bathroom and pump, but I just ran out of time. “It would have been nice if there was a private tent but nobody was thinking there might be athletes who are breastfeeding.”
