Olympic gamble pays off with best of both worlds for Matilda and mum Katrina Gorry
Katrina Gorry has covered more ground than any player left in the World Cup - and she’s got some birthday shopping to do as well, writes ROBERT CRADDOCK.
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Is two miracles in two years too much to ask for Australia’s marathon mum Katrina Gorry?
Eight teams are left in the women’s World Cup and no player in those outfits has covered more ground than the 43.84km of supreme hustle Gorry has injected into Australia’s surge to Saturday’s quarter-final against France.
Yet just two year ago when Australia was competing at the Tokyo Olympics she was not moving anywhere at all as she waited for the birth of daughter Harper.
Before entering camp for the Cup, Gorry spoke to me about her bold, instinctive decision to make the most of the one year delay to the Tokyo Olympics by becoming a mother.
“I always had it inside me that I wanted to be a mum and I did not want to put anything else on hold any more … so I went for it,’’ Gorry said.
As fulfilling as her football career was, Gorry had felt something in her life was missing – motherhood - as she made the decision to have IVF treatment in Norway where she was playing with Avaldsnes, getting pregnant at her first treatment.
Things happened quickly. She had the embryo transferred on the same day she flew back to Australia and had to endure 14 days of quarantine when she landed.
“I did a bit of research on clinics around me at the time. Three weeks later they had transferred an egg. A couple of weeks later I found out I was pregnant.
Fertility expert Dr Tiarna Ernst told the ABC only 10 to 15 per cent of people using donor sperm will get pregnant their first go and that Harper, who turns two next week, was Gorry’s “miracle baby.’’
“When I was in Norway and after Covid hit I did a lot of thinking. I still loved football but it felt like a part of me was missing.
“My sister Amanda had a baby quite young and I just wanted to be a Mother Hen all the time.’’
Gorry’s exceptional physical condition has shone through at the Cup with only Nigeria’s now eliminated Christy Ucheibe (48.24km) covering more ground.
Gorry covered 11.2km against Denmark as part of her 43.82km Cup journey with Lieke Martens (Netherlands, 42.9km), Jennifer Hermoso (Spain 42.64km) and Catalina Usme (Colombia, 41.72km) the closest behind.
Gorry felt she was in a win-win decision by doing IVF because he failed to get pregnant she would have gone to Tokyo but she did so she watched from home, deeply satisfied to have made a decision which would add the layer to her life she felt she was missing.
“I remember lying on my bed watching the (Olympic) matches and Harper would move.’’
There were times early in her comeback when football and feeding clashed, an experience she found challenging but uplifting.
“I was breastfeeding when I was playing. That was really hard to juggle because I had to make sure she had enough milk if she needed a feed throughout the game. But it was also an amazing experience to feed her before I ran on to the field.’’
Harper is often fussed over by Gorry’s teammates and when photographed at the airport this week had the serene look of someone well acquainted with life on the road with Australia’s currently most talked about sporting team.
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Originally published as Olympic gamble pays off with best of both worlds for Matilda and mum Katrina Gorry
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