Record-breaking Olympic stars do it for the mums on historic night in Tokyo
A pair of amazing women broke two impossible Olympic records on Friday night in a victory for mums everywhere.
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Show-and-tell is going to be the best day of the year for three-year-old Alyn Kitum and two-year-old Camryn Ferguson when they’re finally old enough to go to school.
The daughters of Olympic legends Faith Kipyegon and Allyson Felix can beam with pride anytime anyone mentions what their mothers did on a historic night in Tokyo on Friday.
Within 15 minutes of each other the track stars created history, after both became mothers within a few months of each other back in 2018.
Their stories to get to this point are equally remarkable, but first their history.
Kipyegon breaks Olympic record, Felix wins 10th medal
Kipyegon retained the Olympic women’s 1500m title, breaking a 33-year-old Olympic record set by Romanian Paula Ivan at the Seoul Games as she clocked 3min 53.11sec in hot, humid conditions at the Olympic Stadium.
“I am so happy. It was something I didn’t really expect and I made it,” Kipyegon said.
“It was a really fast race, I knew it will be going until the last lap. To get the Olympic record is just amazing to me.”
She curled up in a ball and covered herself with the Kenyan flag in an iconic moment in Olympics history.
Felix meanwhile became the most decorated female track and field athlete in the history of the Games by winning her 10th Olympic medal.
The American star, competing in her fifth and final Olympics, produced a typically gutsy performance in the 400m final to take bronze.
She dug deep in the closing stages to hold off a ferocious challenge from Jamaica’s Stephenie Ann McPherson, clocking 49.26sec – her second fastest 400m time ever.
It was the quickest the 35-year-old has run since giving birth and quicker than anyone her age has gone before.
Felix’s first bronze medal added to an Olympic career that has included six golds and three silver medals since her debut as a teenager at the 2004 Athens Games and took her one clear of Jamaican legend Merlene Ottey.
Felix, who could add to her collection in Saturday’s 4x400m relay, described her feeling of “just joy” after the bronze.
“This one is very different and very special,” Felix said. “It took a lot to get here.
“I was in lane nine, nobody thought I was going to be here, nobody thought I was going to be in the final besides (coach) Bobby (Kersee) and my family. I just needed a chance.
“It’s my first bronze medal, it’s hard to describe. All the other ones, I was so focused on the performance — and this one is so much bigger than that.”
The long road back from child birth
While Felix had already competed in four Olympics when she decided to become a mother, Kipyegon made the decision in her early 20s after winning gold in Rio in 2016.
Her body changed as she added eight kilos to her extremely slight 45kg frame and she took eight months off training after the birth while breastfeeding.
“A baby is a blessing from God, and I didn’t want to wait until after my career to accept that in my life,” she wrote about her experience last year.
“Yes, coming back is really difficult, but you don’t have to lose hope. Remind yourself that you were a good athlete before, and you will be again.”
On Friday she said she hoped to be an example to female athletes who were scared motherhood would mean the end of their careers.
“You can come back stronger than before,” she said. “I thought about my daughter who I left behind at home. She wanted me to bring home a gold medal, and I am so happy and excited I did that.“
Felix’s journey was even more traumatic after Camryn arrived via life-threatening emergency C-section at 32 weeks in November, 2018.
Camryn remained in the neonatal intensive care unit for weeks. Felix’s first return to exercise was a 30-minute walk.
On Friday she said the memory of her daughter’s traumatic birth, and not knowing whether she would survive, had driven her towards her Tokyo swan song.
“The biggest thing for me was coming back. From everything that I had been through,” she said.
“Earlier today I just looked through some of the videos again of things that we had taped when I was in the hospital with Cammy, and my comeback, and just those really really hard moments.
“And that’s what I tried to tap into. There was a moment when we weren’t sure I was going to make it.
“And here I am. I’m at the Olympic Games at 35 years old. Who could ask for more?”
Felix added that she had been determined to take joy from her performance on Friday regardless of where she finished.
“I think a lot of times I have tied my worth to what happens at these championships and I didn’t want to do that this time,” she said.
“I’ve been through so much and obviously I always run for gold but I just wanted to have joy no matter what happened tonight.”
Moments after her bronze medal-winning run, Felix was able to video call family in California, including Camryn.
“I was surprised she was awake, but we’ll deal with that later,” Felix said. “But it was pretty cool.”
ALLYSON!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Another medal for Cammy to look at on the shelf. Yesssss
— emma coburn (@emmajcoburn) August 6, 2021
There’s a fair chance both Alyn and Camryn will follow in their mums’ footsteps too.
Kipyegon is married to 2012 Olympics 800m bronze medallist Timothy Kitum, while Felix’s husband Kenneth Ferguson is a former sprinter and hurdler, who won three gold medals in the 2003 Pan American Junior Athletics Championships.
With that type of pedigree look out for them in 2040 or 2044.
– with AFP
Originally published as Record-breaking Olympic stars do it for the mums on historic night in Tokyo
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