Breastfeeding and elite sport: The athlete mothers sharing their own, very personal experiences
For World Breastfeeding Week 1-7 August, Olympics.com takes a look at the athlete mums who are starting an honest conversation about combining early motherhood with elite sport life.
"Gwen," gently admonishes one commenter below a social media post by USA triathlete Gwen Jorgensen in March 2023, which expressed disappointment at her result in the New Plymouth World Cup in New Zealand. "Just saw (your video) race report …. 14 out of 50 with 3rd fastest run I believe, and not huge difference from top 5 – that’s 5 months after giving birth to your second child, travelling to other side of the world and breast feeding. I think you give yourself less credit than you deserve!"
The comment was in response to Jorgensen's photo caption that read: "I’m not happy with the outcome because I’m an athlete who likes to win. I’ve got a 🔥 that’s burning (and growing)".
"Athlete who likes to win" is right.
Jorgensen is the Rio 2016 Olympic gold medallist, and two-time world champion in 2014 and 2015, plus silver in 2016. During the ITU World Triathlon Series in that period she won an astonishing 13 consecutive races.
So, yes, Jorgensen is used to winning. Or was.
In August 2017, Jorgensen gave birth to Stanley, and by November had announced she was retiring from triathlon to aim for Olympic gold in the marathon at Tokyo 2020, in 2021.
Injuries thwarted that ambition, and three months after second child, George, was born in October 2022, Jorgensen announced a return to triathlon, making the US mixed relay team for Paris 2024 the aim.
Openly documenting her experience of being a mother in sport, Jorgensen is one of a number of athlete mothers exploring the capabilities of competing in high-level sport while also breastfeeding their children.
For World Breastfeeding Week, which runs from 1-7 August, Olympics.com takes a look at the experiences of Jorgensen and those who are treading a similar path to explore the challenges of combining the early stages of motherhood and elite sport.
Best of both worlds
"It's absolutely possible to breastfeed and be at the highest level of sport because I’ve done it," said 28-time Paralympic medallist in swimming and cycling, Sarah Storey.
The Brit won two of her 17 gold medals at Rio 2016, in the cycling time trial and road race, when her daughter Louisa was three years old. Storey repeated the feat at Tokyo 2020, this time with four-year-old son, Charlie, also in tow.
“Your baby is settled, it’s not crying, it’s not upset, and you can focus on the job that you’ve got to do as an athlete," said Storey, who is aiming for an incredible ninth Paralympic Games at Paris 2024.
“Knowing that I can provide for my child means that when I do this incredibly selfish job of being an athlete, where you have to be so self-centred and so self-absorbed with the hours that you’re training and racing, it gives me that yin and yang.”
Honesty shared
"Breastfeeding was tricky," said Storey's compatriot and fellow cyclist, Laura Kenny who had her first child Albie almost a year to the day of the close of the Rio 2016 Games in which Kenny claimed her fourth Olympic gold medal.
"I breastfed for six months, so trying to cluster feed him so I could cycle was really difficult," said the track and road cyclist in an interview in 2019. "He was the hungriest baby ever and he was only going about 10 minutes without wanting to have food.
"Trying to go out and come back and not feel disgusting and sweaty for him – that was tricky," continued Kenny, one half of the most successful couple in Olympic history. "As athletes, our maternity leave is when you’re pregnant. Afterwards, there’s nothing really holding you back from training, so you sort of just have to get on with it."
With husband Jason Kenny, a now retired track cyclist and the GB men's sprint cycling coach in the build-up to Paris 2024, the pair have 15 Olympic track cycling medals between them, comprising 12 gold and three silver.
Reality bites
Athletes are quick to point out they are not superheroes, and the realness with which elite-sport mothers are beginning to document their experiences makes them even more relatable to mums the world over.
"I breastfed for three months and I had three mastitis, which was atrocious," Arianna Errigo told Olympics.com of the painful inflammation of the breast tissue suffered after the Italian fencer had twins by Caesarean section in February.
Considered one of the best fencers of all time, the three-time Olympic medallist, including gold at London 2012 and bronze at Tokyo 2020, was far from immune from the relatively common condition.
"I got to the third one because I wanted to try, but with three rounds of antibiotics in two and a half months I was strongly advised to give it up and I don't breastfeed anymore."
Errigo won her 10th world title five months after the birth of the twins, so maybe we'll revert back to that superhero status in this particular case...
Making it work
“It hurts me to hear people saying, 'we can do only one thing at a time', 'you can’t evolve in your job' or 'you can’t be a high-level athlete' while being a mom," two-time Olympic gold medallist, Clarisse Agbegnenou told Olympics.com. "This is completely wrong."
The French judoka, who competes in the -63kg category, brings her daughter Athéna to competitions, including her comeback at the Champion’s League in Georgia last November, five months after giving birth, and the world championships in Doha last May, where she won her sixth world title.
"We just need the possibility to breastfeed if possible or to pump the milk at work if needed... As an athlete, you just need more time because of the physical abilities we need, but otherwise, it’s really smooth. This is the example I want to show – everything is possible. You just need to listen to your body,” Agbegnenou said.
Game time
Agbegnenou's compatriot, Valériane Vukosavljevic (nee Ayayi), an Olympic bronze medallist in basketball at Tokyo 2020, also breastfed her daughter, Alani, during EuroBasket 2023, telling Olympics.com: "During my free time, when I’m not with the team, I can be with my daughter. I can breastfeed her, take care of her, make her eat, make her shower – all the things a mom needs to do. It’s important because she is still very young, and I can’t imagine letting her alone for such a long time.
"It’s important for a mom, for her mental health," added the athlete whose daughter is potentially the youngest medallist at Tokyo 2020. Vukosavljevic was pregnant while playing at the Games in Japan.
Keeping it real
In a video diary documenting the beginning of her journey to what she hopes will be her third Olympic Games, Jorgensen revealed her feelings as she headed to her post-baby race-day return: "I'm excited to just go out and see where I'm at... I'm just kind of nervous about what's going to happen at the race."
So far, Jorgensen's routine has been similar to that of her pre-baby sporting life, albeit with one important difference:
"I need my breast pump, I need the bottles, I need the stroller..." and in a repetition similar to those of mothers everywhere, "It's like, what am I forgetting?"
