For Olympic athletes, no such thing as a pregnant pause. The media at the Vancouver Games have been obsessed with pregnant (and recently pregnant) athletes.
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Pregnancy not erasing Olympic dreams
- February 22, 2010 5:49 PM |
- By Erin Valois
Story provided by
By Gillian Grace, National Post
For Olympic athletes, no such thing as a pregnant pause
The media at the Vancouver Games has been obsessed with pregnant (and recently pregnant) athletes.
Kristie Moore, an alternate on Canada's curling team, is nearly six months' pregnant.
And French ice dancer Isabelle Delobel doesn't just have to overcome bedazzled costumes and compulsory tangos. She gave birth to her first child on Oct. 1. As the New York Times writes, she was originally too apprehensive to tell her on-ice partner her real due date.
She had only four months to get back to skating form. Sadly, the medal hopes of Delobel and her one-ice partner Olivier Schoenfelder now seem unlikely; the pair were sixth after the compulsory and original dances.
The first (known) pregnant athlete to compete in the Olympics was Swedish skater Magda Julin, who took the 1920 gold medal when she was three months along.
German skeleton racer Diana Sartor was nine weeks' pregnant when she came in fourth at the Turin games.
So, is all the fuss made over preggo and post-parturition competitors akin to the attention paid to any other physical obstacle, like, say, Lindsey Vonn's bruised shin? Or is it proof that we still see female athletes as women first, and athletes second?
Regardless, as Delobel's skating partner Olivier Schoenfelder proves, competitive spirit may be the ultimate leveller. As he told the Times:
"We realize there's a symbolic aspect to this, but we didn't do it for girl power or to be some sort of model for people," Schoenfelder said. "We did it because we want a medal at the Olympics."
About the Author
- Bruce Arthur Bruce Arthur is the National Post's national sports columnist. A Vancouver native, he has been with the Post since 2001, and a columnist since 2005. He is covering his second Olympics, after the 2008 Games in Beijing. He expects these Games to be slightly less propagandistic, and for China to win slightly fewer medals.
- Joe O'Connor Joe O'Connor is a roving sports feature writer with an open-ended beat. He joined the National Post in 2002, and has spent the past seven years bouncing from sport to sport, offering fresh perspectives and delivering unique stories wherever he goes. Whether it has been getting Don Cherry to open up about his love life; George Chuvalo to talk about heartbreaking loss; or racing down the side of a mountain with former Crazy Canuck, Dave Irwin, the veteran Postie chases a story wherever it leads. Before joining the newspaper he was a two-time silver medalist at the National Magazine Awards. Vancouver will be his first Olympics.
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