Edwina Bartholomew: Why Olympic Wonder Women inspire me

Olympian mums are rewriting the rule book when it comes to combining parenthood and competitive sport, says Edwina Bartholomew.

Lay Jian Fang of Team Australia in action during her Women's Singles Round 3 match on day four of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Picture: Getty Images

Like lots of other Aussie mums across the country during Covid, Jian Fang Lay had to learn a few new skills.

She picked up pen and paper, and boned up on school-level maths and grammar to home school her two kids.

We can only guess that when recess rolled around, the pen was switched up for a table tennis paddle for a hitout at home.

Jian Fang Lay is not only an Aussie mum, she is an Olympian.

This is her sixth Games, making history in Tokyo alongside Mary Hanna as one of our most longstanding female athletes.

Hands up if you struggle to find time for a walk or run between mothering duties? I know I certainly do.

Sorting out that balance has been on my to-do list since before I even gave birth. That’s not the case for these Olympian Wonder Women at the Tokyo 2020 Games.

Sinead Diver is competing in the marathon at the Olympics. Picture: Alex Coppel

Look out for Aussie athlete Sinead Diver in the marathon tomorrow. Keen to get in shape post-pregnancy, Diver took up running in her thirties. Turns out, she’s pretty darn good.

The mum of two won the Melbourne marathon in 2018 and finished in the top 10 twice in London. This is her first Olympics at age 44.

For a lot of female athletes, kids come after competitive sport but the delay in the Tokyo 2020 Games has torn up the rule book.

Canadian boxer Mandy Bujold tried to time her pregnancy between Olympic cycles. She fought to have her pre-baby qualification recognised by the IOC.

She was initially rejected, effectively disqualified for having a baby. Bujold appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport and won.

Fellow Canadian basketball player Kim Boucher had to pressure the organising committee to bring her three-month-old daughter to Tokyo, who she was still breastfeeding. She triumphed, setting a precedent for other mums at these Games.

Then there is American sprinter Alyssa Felix. In her two-decade career, she has won six Olympic gold medals over four Games. She could have retired when she fell pregnant in 2019 but she didn’t.

Instead, she is returning for her fifth Olympic Games, the first as a mum. Not only that but she took her sponsor Nike to task for trying to pay her 70 per cent less than before she gave birth.

Her outspoken advocacy forced major sporting corporations to rewrite their maternity-leave policies.

Champion women. Champion mums. I’ll be channelling them when I go for my next run.

Originally published as Edwina Bartholomew: Why Olympic Wonder Women inspire me