PARIS, France — Competing in any sport at the Olympic level is hard on its own, but some athletes are pulling double duty as Olympian and parent.
In Paris, athletes with young children now have more help from Olympic organizers to make child care a little easier during the Games.
That is welcome news for parent athletes after COVID-19 restrictions at the Tokyo Olympics forced family members to stay home. After complaints at the time that the IOC was making athletes choose between the Games and their children, the IOC eventually allowed breastfeeding mothers to take their children to Japan with them.
First-ever Olympic nursery
Allyson Felix, the 11-time Olympic medalist who often celebrated her victories with her children, teamed up with Pampers and worked with International Olympic Committee and Paris organizers to set up the first-ever Olympic Village nursery, offering child care to parent athletes competing at the Games.
“The IOC and IOC Athletes’ Commission want to ensure that pregnancy and motherhood do not mean a career end in particular for female athletes,” the IOC said. “The nursery forms part of an ongoing commitment from the IOC and IOC AC to ensure parent athletes are cared for and supported at the Games.”
"I think it really tells women that you can choose motherhood and also be at the top of your game and not have to miss a beat,” said Felix, who is on the IOC's athletes’ commission.
Felix has been an outspoken advocate for Black maternal health after a life-threatening experience with preeclampsia with her first pregnancy in 2018. She now has two children with her husband Kenneth Ferguson: Camryn, 5, and Trey, who was born in April.
Organizers said the nursery is intended “to reunite competing moms and dads with their children" and offers complimentary services and products to athletes and their little ones at the Olympic and Paralympic Village.
The IOC said it doesn’t compile data on how many parents are competing in Paris, but said it “was seeing good interest in the nursery” ahead of the Games.
The Associated Press and WXIA's Jessica Moore contributed to this story.
