Tangled and Bumpy Roads to Gender Equity: Socio-Cultural Insights from Media Stories About Olympic Athletes and Motherhood

Abstract

With the 2024 Olympic Games touted as reaching gender parity (i.e., same number of female and male athletes participating), media conversations are continuing about elite athlete mothers. Researchers interrogating media stories of Olympic athlete mothers have shown that their sporting journeys are not straightforward due to tensions linked to gender (in)equity. In this paper we use narrative inquiry as a theoretical lens to explore “comeback themes” synthesized from published media studies of Olympic athlete mothers, along with recent examples of media stories of Olympic athlete mothers. We discuss four comeback themes that include: (in)compatible identities, super mums, veteran status/age, and exposing discrimination, and some implications for gender equity. The first three comebacks perpetuate gender ideologies of heteronormative femininity, good motherhood, ageism, and exceptionalism, which downplay equitable support and change. These themes, along with the exposing discrimination theme, also highlight shifting media representations of motherhood and sport whereby stories expose struggles, realities, and/or structural deficits. We reflect on these themes as a “tangled and bumpy road” to gender equity led by athlete mothers’ voices resulting in changes in maternity rights. These comeback themes show gains in gender equity for sportswomen and highlight areas where more work is needed. Future research recommendations include studying mainstream and social media spaces with an intersectional lens to expand understanding of media stories as pedagogical resources to learn more about motherhood, sport, and gender (in)equity.

Introduction

I’d love to come away with a medal, I’d love to be on that podium. I’ve kind of got that eye a little bit more on performance, but I want to be the best athlete I can be alongside the best mum I can be—that challenge and that balance is what motivates me now (Helen Glover, age 37, UK rower, 3x Olympian, quoted in BBC Sport, January, 2024).

Although, pregnancy and motherhood are reasons why some sportswomen end their careers (Davenport et al., 2022), athletes have had sport success post-partum since the 1970s, despite being treated as “curiosities” (Davis, 2023). Researchers have shown that a sport career for athlete mothers is tied to constraint, resistance of cultural norms, and complexity (McGregor, 2023). Examples of this research include athlete mothers experiencing guilt when traveling/competing due to an ideology (i.e., expected behaviors based on cultural norms) of good motherhood that suggests women prioritize family in a sacrifice narrative (Davenport et al., 2023). Motherhood and sport incompatibility is bolstered by limited structural support (e.g., maternity policies) and less information about maternity transitions (e.g., breastfeeding, training) (Davenport et al., 2022, 2024). Some elite athletes draw on identity compatibility narratives to construct hybrid athlete-mother identities, which afford perspective and performance success (Massey & Whitehead, 2022; McGannon et al., 2019).

As athletes continue with sport careers post-partum, the acceptance and support of motherhood in sport is shifting (Smith et al., 2024). Yet, the research findings also show that their sporting journeys are not straight forward and fraught with tensions. The opening quote from UK rower Helen Glover portrays a “super mum” of three children under five vying to compete in Paris 2024. Her story in the media during the 2020 Tokyo Games also showed the reality of juggling childcare with rigorous training, indicating that Glover embraced an athlete-mother identity but with challenges linked to motherhood status. To enhance understanding of the narratives impacting athlete mothers’ identities and lives researchers are studying media representations of athlete mothers (Kulkarni et al., 2023). This focus aligns with scholars’ demonstration that the media circulates gender ideologies and narratives as forms of truth, that impact sportswomen’s subjectivities (Bruce, 2016; Cooky et al., 2015).

Studying Olympic athlete mothers’ stories is timely given their visibility in sport and the media (Davis, 2023; Thornton & Davenport, 2021). Our recent Google search using the terms “Olympic athlete mothers and comebacks” yielded over 5.5 million matches in media sources (e.g., news, sport media) spanning several Olympic Games. Headlines from the week of March 25, 2024, show a media landscape centering acceptance of Olympic athlete mothers in sport, exposure of barriers, and career tensions. Examples of headlines for the 2024 Games include, “Pioneering mothers are breaking down barriers to breast feeding in Olympic sports” and “Heavily pregnant and ready for anything: Amber Rutters race for Paris 2024.” These headlines only scratch the surface of a shift in media portrayals of motherhood and sport whereby athlete mothers are lauded for accomplishments but underestimated or less supported in nuanced ways.

Aims/Purpose

The notion of a “comeback” in sport often means that an athlete returns to a coveted position or status after an absence, enduring extensive loss and/or hardship. When applied to athlete mothers, the comeback analogy positions them as inspiring due to overcoming low expectations linked to a legacy of biology that assumes they are less motivated and/or because they struggle due to social/structural barriers (Davenport et al., 2022; McGannon et al., 2024). An added dimension of the comeback trope is that mothers’ lives are only made visible/worth acknowledging if/when they come back to sport. Our aim in this paper is to use narrative inquiry as a theoretical lens to discuss comeback themes in published media studies of Olympic athlete mothers, including our research on media stories of Canadian athlete mothers’ comeback journeys to Tokyo 2020 (McGannon et al., 2023, 2024), and recent contemporary mediation of Olympic athlete mothers. The goal is to synthesize what we learn from comeback themes in media stories and narratives to support equitable practices for athlete mothers.

Discussing Olympic athlete mother comeback themes affords exploration of a media environment that portrays elite athlete mothers as empowered while systemic inequalities linked to motherhood status persist and/or go unchallenged (McGannon et al., 2023; Scott et al., 2023). To accomplish our aim we first discuss theoretical tenets of narrative inquiry to contextualize the comeback themes. Next, we outline comeback themes that include: (in)compatible identities, super mums, veteran status/age, and exposing discrimination. We conclude with reflections on why media stories are useful to learn about Olympic athlete mothers and gender equity and offer future research directions.

Narrative Inquiry: Contextualizing Media Stories as Socio-Cultural Resources

Narrative inquiry is a broad term for theoretical and methodological approaches that focus on stories (i.e., tales/acts of telling containing (auto)biographical information) as socio-cultural sites of meaning (Smith & Sparkes, 2009). Stories are centralized in narrative inquiry because people use them to make sense of identities, experiences, and actions (Smith & Sparkes, 2009). Sociologist Art Frank (2010) notes that stories are crucial resources to understand the human condition and (in)actions as intertwined with the socio-cultural realm, “because human life depends on the stories we tell: the sense of self that those stories impart, the relationships constructed around shared stories, and the sense of purpose that stories both propose and foreclose. Stories breathe life not only into individuals, but also into groups that assemble around telling and believing certain stories. After stories animate, they instigate” (p. 12).

In this sense, stories structure meaning, actions, and identity-related stories, including the ones we hear about others (Frank, 2010). Stories are uniquely one’s own but they are relational because they are made sense of and “real” depending on socio-cultural narratives that frame them. The idea that stories “animate and instigate” means that they hold pedagogical potential because they afford witness and shared learning for tellers and listeners in relation to identity, life events, and turning points (Smith & Sparkes, 2009). Because stories and narratives are theorized to function in this way they offer conditions of possibility to change how one sees their identity and others, by expanding narrative resources to tell, and act out, different kinds of stories (Smith & Sparkes, 2009). Narratives can be afforded or limited because they are circulated by institutional practices tied to ideologies. Ideologies (e.g., intensive motherhood) may perpetuate narratives (e.g., sacrifice) as factual and “the way things are” (e.g., sport and motherhood are incompatible) (McGannon et al., 2023). In turn, it can be hard to change stories circulated in narratives as “truths” (e.g., mothers with sport careers are exceptions; children come first so sport performance and motivation decline) (McGannon et al., 2015).

Researchers giving analytical attention to stories and narratives can operate from different ontological (i.e., view of reality) and epistemological positions (i.e., way of knowing about reality) (Smith & Sparkes, 2009). Our discussion of media stories of Olympic athlete mother comebacks draws on a relativist ontology and an epistemology of social constructionism. From this perspective, identity conception “shifts from selves and identities as individualistic, real, and interior-based, to them being constructions derived from narratives and performed in relationships” (Smith & Sparkes 2009, p. 5). This approach contrasts with a psycho-social conception of identity from a realist ontology and constructivist epistemology, whereby stories are theorized as windows into the mind and/or stories reveal identity (Smith & Sparkes, 2009).

Studying the media as a socio-cultural site conveying meanings circulated in stories in narratives expands understanding of socially constructed motherhood and sport (McGannon et al., 2023). An example from the first author’s narrative study of five-time Olympian British middle distance runner Jo Pavey’s digital autobiography This mum runs, illustrates narrative inquiry tenets (McGannon et al., 2019). This study focused on key moments in Pavey’s journey as an athlete mother in relation to identities and (in)actions framed by narratives. Pavey’s autobiography was threaded by a theme of discovery narrative-reconfiguring the performance narrative. A discovery narrative characterized training and competition as facilitating enjoyment, learning, and relationships (i.e., partner, family). Pavey engaged in strategies (e.g., less rigid/go with the flow training) in this narrative to craft an athlete-mother identity in ways that incorporated parenthood into her sport journey as an advantage, rather than a detriment. Pavey’s stories in a discovery narrative centered on growth and people intertwined with sport despite setbacks (e.g., injury). This narrative, and the stories of learning and relationships told within it, allowed for resistance of sport performance narrative meanings that view family as hindering a singular athlete identity and performance goals (McGannon et al., 2019).

Olympic Athletes and Motherhood: Comeback Themes in Media Stories

A meta-synthesis of published qualitative media research on elite athlete mothers that included Olympians identified that such research did not appear in scholarly journals until the early 2000s (Kulkarni et al., 2023). While it is tempting to attribute a lack of published media studies to sportswomen receiving less media attention (Cooky et al., 2015), the motherhood and sport trope appeared in the media well before the 2000s. There are with examples of athletes in the media in the 1970s and beyond receiving attention for their for post-partum sport accomplishments (Davis, 2023). Most of the published media research on motherhood and sport in the 2000s and currently, explores athlete mothers’ stories centralized around mega-events such as the Olympic Games. Before delving into four prevalent themes in this work it should be noted that feminist sport media scholars are critical of the media’s recognition of sportswomen as mothers (Bruce, 2016). Media coverage of sportswomen as mothers is problematized because it circulates stereotypical feminine and heteronormative ideals and trivializes athletic accomplishments (Cooky et al., 2015; Dashper, 2018). Researchers are advancing this work by exploring media stories on Olympic athlete mothers to shed light on complex messages about contemporary motherhood, sportswomen, and gender (in)equality (Allain & Dotto, 2023; McGannon et al., 2023; Scott et al., 2023).

(In)Compatible Identities

The (in)compatible identity theme shows two sides of Olympic athlete mother comebacks along with tensions tied to gender equity. The incompatibility side of this theme shows an athlete versus mother identity constructed in a biological essentialism narrative, which assumes women are naturally suited to motherhood (McGannon et al., 2015). A “natural mother” identity is framed by a sacrifice narrative which pressures women to prioritize family care/needs and give up career (i.e., sport) or experience guilt and judgement when prioritizing sport career as mothers. Published media studies identifying incompatible identities in mainstream media (e.g., news, magazines) have drawn attention to the detrimental emotional impacts (e.g., guilt, stress, mental health) for athletes negotiating motherhood and sport career (McGannon et al., 2015, 2023; Scott et al., 2023). While male athletes are continuing sport careers as fathers, there is less pressure for them to choose between the two, although researchers are showing elite male athletes experience similar tensions when they are “involved fathers” (McGannon et al., 2018; Smith et al., 2024).

Cosh and Crabb’s (2012) news media analysis of Australian water polo player Keli Lane’s ambition to compete at the 2000 Olympic Games illustrates some features of an incompatible identity theme. Lane became tabloid fodder due to carrying three pregnancies to term, allowing two children to be adopted. She was convicted of murdering the middle child at 2 days old. In this analysis the trial was portrayed as a spectacle rendering Lane’s comeback quest to the Games as inconceivable. The media used Lane’s athletic status to position her as a “bad mother” who pursued “sporting ambitions” with selfish but tragic consequences. While this media study may be an extreme example, it shows the mental health and behavioral impacts of narratives that force women to choose between motherhood or sport career. The forced choice keeps sport culture’s perpetuation of a singular athlete identity intact without support for motherhood, by keeping a compatible athlete-mother invisible.

Published studies of online news media analyses of recent Olympic athlete mothers pursuing sport careers continue to show the theme of identity (in)compatibility linked with biological essentialism intertwined with structural barriers. Scott et al.’s (2023) study of US Olympic runners Alysia Montaño, Allyson Felix, and Kara Goucher was quoted in US news articles as making career sacrifices and expending emotional labor to focus on childcare when contract support was inadequate. This study centered on athletes’ leveraging of the media to fight for their rights from sponsor Nike. We will explore this side of media findings in our exposing discrimination theme. For now it can be noted that these athletes were portrayed as compelled to adopt neoliberal values of balancing career and motherhood through personal strategies and family support (e.g., partners), when structural support was unavailable due to maternal status.

Our published news media analysis of Canadian basketball player Kim Gaucher’s story to compete at Tokyo 2020, revealed a lack of consideration and concessions by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for breastfeeding mothers (McGannon et al., 2023). We identified a forced to choose storyline framed in a motherhood penalty narrative in media portrayals of Gaucher, linked to emotional and career stress, as she prepared for a Games she might not attend:

“All I’ve ever wanted out of my basketball career is to rep Canada at the Olympics,” Gaucher said in her post. “Last year my teammates and I qualified for Tokyo but right now I’m being forced to decide between being a breastfeeding mom and an Olympic athlete. I can’t have them both. Tokyo said no friends, no family, no exceptions” (Ewen, 2021, para. 13).

As with Scott et al.’s (2023) study, we will discuss the above study further in the exposing discrimination theme. These two news media studies show a shift in media representations of Olympic athlete mothers by centering stories that problematize an athlete vs. mother dichotomy as inequitable. Despite having social capital, these sportswomen’s stories show inequitable treatment and distress. Their stories beg the question, “what happens to athletes without social capital, when they become mothers?” Researchers have shown that they navigate stressors in isolation and/or may not reach their potential (Davenport et al., 2022; Massey & Whitehead, 2022).

Contradictory portrayals of affirmation and resistance of good motherhood narratives that create an (in)compatible athlete mother identity are also shown in media research findings in nuanced ways. A study by McGannon et al. (2015) of news media representations of US Olympic mothers competing in the 2012 Games shows comebacks as two sides of athlete mother (in)compatibility. The first comeback was one of physical hardship linked to women’s biological fragility while training and the second comeback was one of physical and mental strength gained from motherhood. Both comebacks were part of a transformative journey narrative whereby performance was enhanced through a good mother ideology athletes uphold with limited support when coming back to sport. Research discussed earlier concerning Olympian Jo Pavey shows her autobiography centered on a “melded” athlete mother identity in a discovery narrative (McGannon et al., 2019). This identity was not portrayed as an either or but a hybrid identity made possible by Pavey’s family support (e.g., partner who is her coach, parents, children). This support is deployed by sportswomen in addition to, or in the absence of, structural support shown in qualitative interview studies (Davenport et al., 2022; Smith et al., 2024).

Super Mums

As Olympic athlete mothers continue to gain acceptance in sport and media visibility, studies are showing that media portrayals are shifting the neoliberal question of “can women be an athlete and mother?” to “is there anything athlete mothers can’t do?” This question continues to reinforce motherhood as a neoliberal solo endeavor through a super mum identity, with women remaining primary providers of childcare while excelling in strength and athletic performance (McGannon et al., 2015). Media stories portraying this identity render sport and motherhood compatible with tensions reconciled through “mum strength” in stories, which leads to inspiring performances. Such portrayals may eclipse physical realities along with narrating childcare as done with ease and without complaint, which downplays support needs or erases struggles.

Hodler and Lucas-Carr’s (2016) study shows the tensions of a super mum identity along with body-surveillance and neoliberal values of hard work intertwined with consumerism. The authors explored news and sport magazine representations of US swimmer Dara Torres’ post-partum comeback to a 5th Olympic Games. At 41 years old, Torres was portrayed in a fitspirational narrative that fed into heterosexy athletic ideals. In a fitspiration narrative Torres’ story centered on a sexy post-partum body achieved with a team of experts (e.g., coach, chiropractor) that cost 100,000 USD per year. These costs revealed Torres’ privilege as a decorated Olympian whose needs were subsidized by sponsors. The “pay-off” was a fitspirational super mum performance whereby Torres won a silver medal in the 50 m freestyle, and a silver medal as the anchor of the 4 × 100 US relay team. Torres’ motherhood status was part of a super mum story that sanitized the reality and struggles of motherhood. This is not to say that we know what Torres experienced as a mother. Rather, the fitspirational narrative positioned her super mum performance as an exception (i.e., to whom other mother athletes will not compare), with results acheived through support that some athletes (e.g., track athletes) fight for, are denied, or have withdrawn (Scott et al., 2023).

Our study of four Canadian athlete journeys as first-time mothers to Tokyo 2020 showed that sport media stories continue to portray super mums as inspiring exceptions and uphold good mother and heteronormative ideals (McGannon et al., 2024). Consider the following quote from a media story in our narrative analysis about marathon runner Malindi Elmore whose last Olympic Games was in 2004, coming back in a race which led to eventual qualification for Tokyo 2020:

When Elmore crossed the finish line, she didn’t even stop to catch her breath before wading through the crowd looking for her family, who she found about 15 minutes later. Dressed in a navy blue onesie, Oliver was mostly sleepy and calm during the time away from Elmore as his dad, Graham Hood, bounced him. But as soon as Oliver saw Mom, he burst into tears. Elmore sat down on the road, salty with dried sweat, and nursed him with a finisher’s medal dangling from her neck (Rutherford, n.d., para 2).

Elmore was 41 years old when she competed in Tokyo 2020, and while the above quote centralizes motherhood status and “natural” care duties, her Olympic journey was portrayed as a redemption fraught with challenges she overcame (McGannon et al., 2024). Elmore’s super mum status affirmed natural motherhood but also showed her strength and agency in coming back on her own terms to a sport career with a hybrid athlete-mother identity.

Media stories such as Elmore’s show how old narratives of biological essentialism and good motherhood contributing to gender inequality stand alongside narratives of progress for athlete mothers, but not without struggle (McGannon et al., 2024). Narratives of progress are important to change stories and practices to resist constraining narratives and push for more equitable treatment of sportswomen. The risk with the super mum identity is that women continue to be held primarily responsible for childcare with or without support and they may expend emotional labor sometimes in silence (e.g., Davenport et al., 2022; Scott et al., 2023).

The super mum trope is changing in nuanced ways in some contemporary media stories by centering difficulties concerning pregnancy and problematizing quick or easy comebacks. This is a positive step toward accepting parenthood and showing realities for athlete mothers that need to be addressed in sport. As an example, six prominent Black track athlete mothers’ stories were recently featured on the Olympics.com website. Stories centralized athletic accomplishments and affirmed how motherhood status enhanced focus and identity expansion, while discussing tensions related to maternity and career. Kenyan athlete Faith Kipyegon’s story, for example, was one that lauded her athletic accomplishments and upheld biological essentialism concerning a “call to motherhood,” but exposed health issues and fears for athletes’ careers post-partum:

After making history at the London 2017 World Athletics Championships as the first Kenyan woman to win the 1,500 m, Kipyegon took a maternity break. The double Olympic champion managed to train until she was about 5 months along, but the delivery was traumatic. Kipyegon needed an emergency Caesarean section to deliver her daughter Alyn in June 2018. There were moments the athlete worried if she could ever compete again. “I was so afraid, [thinking], ‘Maybe I will not come back, I will just disappear’” (Watts, 2023, paras 14–17).

Media stories of super mums also invoke individualized strategies athletes use to “balance” sport and motherhood (BBC Sport, 2024; McGannon et al., 2019). These individualized strategies show reduction of stress and pressures when navigating sport careers but they do not fully disrupt the myth of women “doing it all” on their own. Feminist sport journalist Shireen Ahmed problematized the super woman trope as “. . .unrealistic, but sometimes that is what we are faced with. It doesn’t always manifest gracefully, but there it is” (Ahmed, 2023, para. 9). Statements like this are underscored by scholars’ calls for social and structural change to support athlete parents (Davenport et al., 2022; Scott et al., 2023). Athlete mothers are leading this change but it has been a tangled and bumpy road to progress (Fadel, 2021; Scott et al., 2023). We explore some of these points in detail in the exposing discrimination theme.

Veteran Athletes and Age

We identified veteran status and age as a theme because some athlete mothers are having career longevity. Their visibility in the media is worth noting in relation to gender equity when one considers athletes delay motherhood during sport careers, plan/time motherhood for competitions, or come back to (un)certain careers (McGannon et al., 2024). Three published media studies (Allain & Dotto, 2023; Dashper, 2018; Hodler & Lucas-Carr, 2016) along with our two studies centering Canadian Olympic athlete mothers’ comebacks to Tokyo 2020 (McGannon et al., 2023, 2024) highlight veteran and older Olympic athlete mothers. The intersection of advanced sport career status with motherhood sheds light on ways that women receive (in)equitable treatment in a sport environment valuing young athletes and a singular-focused athlete identity. Hodler and Lucas-Carr’s (2016) media analysis of 41-year-old US swimmer Dara Torres showed that she was rendered an inspirational older super mum, whose comeback was mediated as a “curiosity” rather than the norm. Dashper’s (2018) analysis of news coverage of British heptathlete Jessica Ennis-Hill’s comeback in the 2016 Olympics showed her post-partum body was portrayed as losing its athletic edge, despite winning a silver medal. Both media portrayals constructed veteran athlete mothers’ comebacks as exceptions, and for Ennis-Hill retirement was assumed after a “good,” but “sub-par,” performance (Dashper, 2018).

Aligning with older athlete mothers as exceptions, Allain and Dotto (2023) explored television and news coverage of eight-time Olympian Uzbek gymnast Oksana Chusovitina, who was 46 years old (now 48 years old trying to qualify for Paris 2024). Chusovitina was portrayed by the media as a “freak of nature,” which eclipsed discussing her career longevity, positioning her accomplishments as a “fluke” (Allain & Dotto, 2023). Uzbek’s motherhood status was used to discount her leadership and downplay her athleticism which is a media framing tactic known as ‘ambivalence’ (Cooky et al., 2015). Not surprisingly, these findings showed that gymnastics remains a sport where a younger hegemonic gendered order is upheld. Thus older veteran athlete mothers are represented in ageist, sexist, and exceptionalism narratives.

A closer look at contemporary media stories from Tokyo 2020 and upcoming 2024 Games shows some elite athlete mothers are competing in gymnastics at older ages. US gymnast Chelsey Memmel launched a comeback to compete in Tokyo 2020 at 32 years of age as a mother of two. British trampolinist Laura Gallagher is in a position of a “surprise comeback after becoming a mum” (Hope, 2023). In contrast to Chusovitina’s skill and experience being devalued, Memmel’s and Gallagher’s comeback stories are portrayed as positives for career agency and longevity. They also use a “shock and surprise” storyline that mothers would come back to sport and perform well. Such visibility disrupts narratives of ageism within which Chusovitina’s story was represented to show career longevity is possible. The “shock and surprise” storyline also reinforces biological essentialism that uses motherhood status to downplay competitive edge. For example, a story on Gallagher’s chance to compete in Paris 2024 quoted her as saying, “My priorities have shifted now, obviously Edie’s well-being and quality-of-life always come first, but I still have that desire to compete” (Hope, 2023, para. 6).

The above gymnasts’ stories align with tensions identified in our media analysis of comeback meanings of four veteran Canadian athlete mothers’ Tokyo 2020 journeys. These athletes were portrayed as having strength and wisdom, which were valued attributes for comebacks (McGannon et al., 2024). Athletes were also portrayed as uncertain about abilities, particularly cyclist Catharine Pendrel and marathon runner Malindi Elmore, who were both 41 years old (McGannon et al., 2024). Like Memmel and Gallagher, when they performed well, these athletes were quoted in stories as being “surprised” and went with the flow, to see what was possible. While this approach may reduce pressure, we partly interpreted this finding as a need for more, and trusted, information on pregnancy and post-partum training (McGannon et al., 2024). Research in this regard is growing (McGregor, 2023), but narratives of bodily decline and risk linked to aging and motherhood contribute to an ambiguous sport training environment shown to be stressful for athlete mothers (Davenport et al., 2022) and athletes contemplating motherhood in the next 5 years (Davenport et al., 2024). All four Canadian athletes’ experiences communicated in the media showed a reliance on others for information (e.g., partners, informed coaches, athletes). Information and guidelines provided for comebacks need to consider sportswomen’s embodied realities and mistrust of contradictory messages.

A final point is that the visibility of veteran or older athlete mothers coming out of retirement or having career longevity shows the family planning women do in an inequitable sport system. The planning/timing of pregnancies around events/competitions for athletes to come back with less support is well documented (Davenport et al., 2022; Smith et al., 2024). Media researchers have not explored Paralympic athlete mothers, but their stories are garnering media attention on this issue. Three-time US Paralympic swimmer Mallory Weggeman’s story in the media centered conversations on partner infertility and the emotional labor women go through to get pregnant due to timing pressures, short competition windows, and less support (Acosta, 2023). While the timing of parenthood should be an athlete’s choice, these choices are entangled in structural barriers that lead to starting families later in careers due to limited policies and fears of losing performance or opportunities (Davenport et al., 2024; Grey & Oxley, 2024). Moreover, the athlete mothers featured in media stories indicate that sportswomen need social capital and support for career agency when starting a family. Our study of Canadian boxer Mandy Bujold and Kim Gaucher showed that even when veteran athletes carefully plan, in the absence of polices (e.g., retaining rankings, timing pregnancies, breast feeding) Olympic goals are thwarted (McGannon et al., 2023). We explore the media’s role in elevating athlete mothers’ voices and stories as they push for change next.

Exposing Discrimination

The final theme of exposing discrimination underscores a shift in media representations from an (in)compatible athlete mother trope as a dichotomy of “unable to compete” versus a “super mum” (McGannon et al., 2015), to one centering athlete mothers’ voices demanding equitable support for sport careers. Two published media studies have explored Olympic athlete mothers’ exposure of discrimination they faced due to maternal status (McGannon et al., 2023; Scott et al., 2023). Both studies show the pedagogical value of stories in narratives as these athletes’ stories in the media led to action and change concerning contracts, policies, and maternity rights.

Scott et al.’s (2023) feminist framing analysis explored tensions for US Olympic runner mothers (e.g., Alysia Montaño, Allyson Felix, Kara Goucher) related to sponsors and contract obligations. The study focused on the 2019 New York Times op-ed titled, “Nike told me to dream crazy, until I wanted a baby,” in which Montaño exposed sponsor Nike’s treatment of her during pregnancy. Olympic athlete mothers Felix and Goucher also featured in the media to expose Nike’s refusal to guarantee they would not be punished for diminished performance during pregnancy and post-partum time frames. Findings of media surrounding the Times story included framings of exploitation versus empowerment, where sponsors recognized mothers’ value yet cut contracts. Frames of reactivity versus proactivity also showed Nike framed themselves as supportive while athletes noted support actually came from their own advocacy.

Scott et al.’s (2023) media analysis showed the cultural change needed in corporate spaces to support athlete parents beyond exploitive, reactive, and performative practices. The pedagogical potential of media stories that lead to awareness and change has since filtered down into the lives of elite parent runners. Smith et al.’s (2024) study of world-class running parents (i.e., mothers and fathers) identified their recognition of Montaño’s and Felix’s push-back had led to social change to better their lives and acceptance of parents in sport. Athletes also noted, “there’s a lot of work still yet to be done” concerning gender equity (Smith et al., 2024, p. 6).

Our narrative inquiry study of digital news stories of Canadian athlete mothers’ (i.e., boxer Mandy Bujold and basketball player Kim Gaucher) quest to compete in Tokyo 2020 is another example of athletes exposing discrimination (McGannon et al., 2023). These athletes gained media attention when the IOC pandemic rules impacted their right to compete due to their motherhood status, and they pushed back. Our analysis showed that Bujold’s and Gaucher’s stories brought attention to maternity rights in a motherhood penalty narrative that blocked their quest to compete (McGannon et al., 2023). In Bujold’s case, her ranking was lost due to being on maternity leave during the qualifying time frame chosen by the IOC. Gaucher’s story aligned with several Olympic athlete mothers with young children wanting to bring their families to breastfeed. Although there was a resolution for both athletes to compete, termed a more than us story, our analysis highlighted the undue stress Olympic athlete mothers are subjected to. Like Scott et al.’s (2023) findings, these athletes’ stories exposed maternal discrimination and led to change (e.g., athletes bringing children to the Games, pre-maternity ranking allowed for boxers). Our analysis also highlighted a missed opportunity in the media to center Black athlete mothers’ (e.g., Serena Williams) activism in maternal rights, and note how these women are at the forefront of activism change (Davis, 2023).

Five-time Olympian Allyson Felix’s advocacy work is an example of Black athlete mothers leading change in gender equity centered in contemporary media. When named Time Magazine’s woman of the year in 2022, Felix was quoted as cultivating an “activist identity” by using her platform to advocate for Black women’s maternal health as a social justice issue:

“I think we’re really seeing women of color, our pain is not believed,” she said at the event. “We have to advocate for our own health. There’s so much implicit bias in the medical field. We need to change that and listen to and believe women.”

She continued: “I feel so fortunate I was able to walk out the hospital with my family and that’s not the case for so many women. What’s heartbreaking is so many of these deaths are preventable.” (Dockterman, 2022, paras. 6–7).

Felix’s quote above is underscored by other Black athlete mothers speaking out in the media after US sprinter and three-time Olympic medalist Tori Bowie died from preeclampsia when 8 months pregnant (Chappell, 2023). Felix’s activism continues with the organization &Mother which awarded $5,000 USD to the top three mother athlete finishers in the 2024 US Olympic trials. Felix’s shoe company Saysh also offers maternity support and links company values with gender equity (Dockterman, 2022).

Concluding Reflections

In this paper, we delved into comeback themes identified in a growing body of published research on the mediation of Olympic athlete mothers, along with recent examples of media stories centering Olympic athlete mothers. Using relativist narrative inquiry we synthesized four themes of (in)compatible identities, super mums, veteran status/age, and exposing discrimination, to discuss gender equity implications. These comeback themes show that media representations of Olympic athlete mothers perpetuate gender ideologies of heteronormative femininity, good motherhood, and individualism problematized by feminist scholars (Cooky et al., 2015). Media stories such as these bolster the cultural myth that motherhood is women’s true calling and sole responsibility, which impacts athletes’ stress and access to equitable support in their sporting lives.

Pervasive narratives of bodily decline, risk, and exceptionalism linked to intersections of age and motherhood in the media create stories of super mums or veteran/older athletes as curiosities/exceptions, along with an ambiguous sport environment, as they navigate careers. Some media studies and recent stories circulated in contemporary media about veteran athlete mothers coming out of retirement or having career longevity show a continued need for information about maternity training and performance. Such information is needed so that women do not fend for, or underestimate, themselves (McGannon et al., 2024). We note that research on maternity training is accumulating but media stories show individualized support for maternity training and post-partum embodiment are also needed for veteran athlete mothers.

Our discussion of comeback themes also indicates that media representations of contemporary motherhood and sport are shifting. Some media stories resist stereotypical notions of athlete mothers, portraying them as empowered to expose realities and/or structural deficits. The studies outlined in the exposing discrimination theme, along with media stories centering Olympic athlete mothers’ voices, are key tools for continuing to push for social and structural change concerning gender equity. We termed this path a tangled and bumpy road because change has at times been prevented and when happening, is difficult to address due to complex narratives threading athlete mothers’ lives. Media stories exposing equity issues by centering athlete mothers’ voices indicate change is occurring but more is needed. This includes centering Black women’s maternal health, financial support for Olympic and Paralympic mothers (e.g., training, travel with family), and maternity contracts/policies that include protections for mothers and reimbursements for adoption, surrogacy, and fertility treatments (Fadel, 2021).

From a narrative inquiry perspective changing stories means expanding narrative resources, to tell different kinds of stories, that disrupt or change constraining narratives and practices encouraging gender equity. Social and structural support are key to shift ingrained beliefs that motherhood and sport are a dichotomy in a sport system that limits women’s bodily autonomy and choices concerning family. It is encouraging that maternity policies in sport are developing, some of which include FIFA’s maternity for women’s football, cycling policies for world tour teams, the UK’s maternity and parental policy, and Paris 2024’s inclusion of a designated hotel/space for breast feeding and athlete parents. These policies are structural supports for athlete parents and gender equity standing alongside narratives of progress. The inclusion of athletes’ voices alongside policies remains central to identify persistent challenges and barriers for athlete mothers (Ahmed, 2023; Davenport et al., 2022). For example, the BBC recently published a report surveying 143 elite British sportswomen. More than 1/3rd of respondents said they are unsupported by their governing body to return to sport post-partum and some are fearful of bodily decline or covering childcare costs (Grey & Oxley, 2024).

Although change is occurring, the tangled and bumpy road to gender equity has been fought by sportswomen, partly by telling their stories in the media. The topic of motherhood and sport remains a useful lens to problematize, and push for, more change concerning inequitable practices in sport and society, as Davis (2023, para. 39) noted:

Considering ideas about athlete motherhood, past and present reveals both the gains of women in sport as well as the persistence of certain barriers, assumptions, and concerns still restricting the development of the game. This generation of women athletes understands they sit at a particular intersection of sport and society. They see that their fights for pay equity, paid maternity leave, bodily autonomy, queer family protections, maternal health and safety, are fights that are mirrored in and out of sports.

Our synthesis extends scholarship that takes the media seriously as a circulator of messages and meanings—as stories in narratives—about sportswomen, to interrogate how these contribute to, or thwart, progress and change supporting gender equity (Antunovic & Bartoluci, 2022). Our synthesis centered mainstream mediation (e.g., news, sport media, television) of Olympic athlete mothers, most of whom are heterosexual, cisgendered, and non-disabled. Expanding media research using an intersectional lens to explore career transitions in social media (e.g., Facebook, Twitter/X, and Instagram) would be useful. Such research might explore (self)representations of athlete mother, to build on media work exploring a media landscape that accommodates media stories in narratives, as resources that tell us about gender (in)equity.

An intersectional lens would also be useful to apply to media representations of athlete mothers from other countries/nations since most of the published media studies center on North American Olympic athlete mothers’ stories. Our mainstream media search of Olympic athlete mothers, including some outlined in this paper, shows that these women are visible in the media. Yet their stories remain less explored and interrogated by media scholars. Finally, feminist sport media scholars have noted there is “near equal” media coverage of women during the Olympics but that coverage drops in the interim years (Antunovic & Bartoluci, 2022). Future research may consider exploring media stories of athlete mothers outside of comebacks to the Games, since that media coverage may perpetuate certain stories and understandings about athlete mothers. Our research and recent meta-synthesis of published media studies on elite athlete mothers (Kulkarni et al., 2023), coupled with athlete mothers’ visibility outside of the Olympics, indicate there are media stories worth exploring in mainstream and social media spaces to learn more.