Two Competing As One: Athletes Who Have Competed While Pregnant
sports 6/14/17
Athletes strive to win in any sport that they perform in. These athletes spend their days practicing and putting their bodies into subjection to the weight room and outdoors and push themselves to the limit in order to become the best athlete they can become. These female athletes not only competed at the top level of their respective sports, they did it while having a bun in the oven.
Dana Vollmer's Awesome Gender Reveal
Dana Vollmer is a professional swimmer and four-time Olympic gold medalist with seven medals overall. It takes a lot of skill and expertise in freestyle swimming in order to obtain a victory. After the 2016 Rio Olympics, while six months pregnant, Dana had a little more weight to carry but continued to compete for Team USA. She was labeled "momma on a mission" and teased her fans for the gender reveal, as she told them she would wear green for a boy, and pink for a girl. She ended up competing at the USA Swimming meet in April 2017 wearing her green suit. It will be Vollmer's second boy.
Preggo Serena Williams Wins Australian Open
Serena Williams achieved the impossible. When she won the Grand Slam at the Australian Open, she actually won this title with someone else as well. Serena Williams nearly broke the internet in 2017 when she accidentally posted a pregnant photo to social media, and soon divulged that she was actually two months pregnant when she won the Australian Open! Many fans were concerned about her pregnancy after hearing the news, but Serena assured her fans that she was okay and that her doctor said that doing activities such as tennis is considered a normal level of activity. It's OK people, she's a professional.
Alysia Montano Wins 800 Meter At 34 Weeks
You may have never in your entire life witnessed such a scene like this. Alysia Montano is here giving her all, but that is not all. She is carrying a heavy load coming down the track at breakneck speed. She gracefully sprints to victory here in 2014 with a little encouragement from a family member-to-be. Alysia Montano ran the 800-meter race at a USA Track and Field Outdoor Championship in 2014 with child. Alysia was actually 34 weeks pregnant while she competed in this competition and amazingly won the event with her bundle of joy being warm in the oven.
Kerri Walsh Jennings Played Fearlessly
It would seem a little risky to some to play the sport of volleyball, or any other sport for that matter, while being with child. The more the weeks progress, the more protrusion occurs in the mid-section area. There is a considerable amount of movement involved with playing volleyball- have you ever seen someone land on their stomach trying to prevent the ball from hitting the ground? Imagine being pregnant while trying to do this. We cannot fathom the thought, but for Kerri Walsh Jennings, she came out of the situation without a problem. The fact was that she did not know she was 5 weeks pregnant while she was competing. She explained to Today: "When I was throwing my body around fearlessly, and going for gold for our country, I was pregnant."
Olympic Handball Player Anna-Maria Johansson
Anna-Maria Johansson is a handball player who comes from Sweden. She had a handful of extra energy while she was competing in 2012 and rightfully so. Handball requires a lot of fast-reflex movements and incredible hand-to-eye coordination. Along with the speed and reflex factors, there is some body contact that does occur and so defenders can stop opponents from approaching the goal. Anna-Maria Johansson participated in the London Olympics in 2012. Her team did not win any medals, but she was a winner already being three months pregnant and expending energy by running up and down the court giving it her all.
Martina Valcepina Competing With Twins
Martina Valcepina did the impossible in 2014. The Italian short-track speed skater who did what no other speed skater has done. She is fast and she is able to move at great speeds around an indoor ice track. This does require a lot of skill, but that is not all that she had in 2014. Martina Valcepina was a competitor in an event at the Iceberg Skating Palace in Sochi, Russia. She competed in the women's 400-meter speed skate, as well as the 1500-meter speed skate and even the 1000-meter speed skate. As expected, she did not make it into the preliminary finals but there is an explanation. She was one month pregnant with not one, but two children!
Diana Reyes Competes Four Months Pregnant
Diana Reyes was the unfortunate victim of an accident and through the accident something was discovered about her that would affect her life. Diana Reyes was about to fly out to Rio for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games last year. While on her way to the airport, she was hospitalized due to a car crash. She was a player of the National Puerto Rico Women's Volleyball Team, and this was Puerto Rico's first ever time to compete in the sport. While she was in the hospital, it was discovered that she was four months pregnant. She was eventually released from the hospital, and she was even allowed to play in the match against Cameroon while she was with child, after getting the go-ahead from the doctor.
Amelie Kober Took On The Olympics Preggo
Slalom looks like a lot of fun. It also looks risky as well. For Amelie Kober, it is not just a job, it is a living. She's not only being an athlete, she's is also a German Federal Police Officer. She lives life on the edge, and she had to walk that fine line of athletics, being a police officer, and also being a mother in the 2010 Olympics. Amelie Kober has the distinction of being the youngest competitor ever in the Parallel Giant Slalom. She failed to make the quarterfinals, but afterward revealed that she was two months pregnant during the event! She did, however, win a bronze medal at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi.
Nur Suryani Mohd Taibi – 34 Weeks Pregnant
Nur Suryani Mohd Taibi holds the distinction of being the very first woman ever to represent the country of Malaysia in the sport of shooting. She did not come alone in 2012 when she made her way to the Olympics. She was carrying a bundle when she performed in the 10-meter air rifle shooting event. Nur Suryani Mohd Taibl was perhaps the most notably pregnant competitor of the 2012 Olympics. She is a navy military logistics officer and she was 34 weeks pregnant when she competed in the air rifle event. She has gone on record as saying: "Most people said I was crazy and selfish because they think I am jeopardizing my baby's health. My husband said grab it, as this is a rare chance which may not come again. Also, I am the mother. I know what I can do. I am a stubborn person."
Kerstin Szymkowiak Wins Silver While Pregnant
Wait a minute, hold the phone. This may the most extreme sport for anyone who is pregnant so far. How much stomach padding is available for a sport like this? This may be the most extreme sport yet for any female athlete who is carrying a baby. Kerstin Szymkowiak was once a skeleton racer from Germany. See I told you spring was in the air for the German women. Kerstin was known as "The Ice Tiger" while she was competing in the skeleton races. Skeleton racing involves a person being on their belly and then being pushed down a course head first. She was two months pregnant, and she was fortunate to be very skillful in the event because she won a silver medal while she was pregnant.
Diana Sartor Competing Nine Weeks Pregnant
Photo: Ezra Shaw /Allsport
Spring was in the air for a lot of the German female competitors. We have Diana Sartor who competed in the Torino Winter Olympic Winter Games in 2006. She represented the country of Germany. As with all of the women in this article she had a little extra weight coming into the competition. Diana has been competing internationally since 1996 and she has been recognized as a world-class athlete. It was discovered that she was nine weeks into her pregnancy while she was a competitor in the skeleton race in the Torino Winter Olympic Winter Games in 2006. After having her son, she retired in 2007.
Kristie Moore – Five and a Half Months Pregnant
Kristie Moore is an Olympic curler who hails from Canada. She was a part of the 1996 Canadian Junior Curling Championship team in which she and her team won the championship. she's also won the World Junior Curling Championship as well. Kristie Moore participated in the 2010 Olympics as an alternative curler and perhaps for a very good reason- she was five and a half months pregnant! Sweden and Canada were involved in one of the best curling matches ever. Sweden ended up getting the gold, and Canada got a silver medal.
Catriona Matthew – Five Months Pregnant
Photo: Morne de Klerk/Getty Images
The sport of golf seems to be a lot easier to play while pregnant, compared to the other sports mentioned here. Although it seems like an easy sport, there is a tremendous amount of skill that goes into the game of golf. You will also have to consider the concentration factor that comes into play in order to achieve success in the sport of golf. Catriona Matthew is a Scottish golfer who knows about skill and concentration while competing in the sport of golf. She holds the LGPA Brazil Cup which she won in 2009. She was also five months pregnant with her second child while she won the Brazil Cup. She explained to Golf: "When you play well you don't feel tired. Maybe tomorrow I will feel it a bit."
Anky Van Grunsven
PHILIPPE MERLE/AFP/Getty Images
Anky Van Grunsven is a champion amongst champions. She holds a distinct title in the sport of dressage. Anky Van Grunsven holds the title for most medals won by an equestrian athlete. This is a huge accomplishment and she certainly has mastered the sport of dressage in every aspect. She has also won gold in three executive Olympic games in the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, the 2004 Olympics in Athens, and in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. She won gold in all three of these consecutive games, and in the 2004 Olympics in Athens, she was five months pregnant when she brought home the gold.
Khatuna Lorig – Four Months Pregnant
Photo by Paul Gilham/Getty Images
Khatuna Lorig competed under three different names while she was an Olympic athlete. She also represented three different countries. Khatuna is a five-time Olympian and won a bronze medal for the CCCP at the age of 18. After the USSR dissolved, she competed for the country of Georgia at the 1996 Summer Olympics. She then became a U.S. citizen and competed in the 2008 Olympics. She was four months into her pregnancy while she competed in the 2008 Olympics.
Anita Springs – Four Months Pregnant
Anita Springs is a former Australian volleyball player who participated in the 1996 Olympic Games which took place in Atlanta, Georgia. She looked a little bit different from the other tanned and toned ladies on the sand at the Olympics that summer, as she was competing while four months pregnant. Springs and Lianne Fenwick obtained a victory against Fujita and Takahashi of Japan for their first game. Springs and Fenwick lost the second game to Brazil.
DeAnne Hemmens – 2 Months Pregnant
DeAnne Hemmens rows her boat roughly down the river in the image above. Hemmens was two months pregnant while she competed in the Olympics. A former competitor in the K-4500 meter canoeing event, she participated in the 1996 Summer Olympics which took place in Atlanta, Georgia. Sprint canoeing is a very hectic sport that can take a lot out of a competitor during to the rigorous rowing motions that occur during this type of sport. Hemmens competed along with hew rowing partner Lisa Rousset in the speed canoeing event. She also competed in the single canoeing event that year.
Katerina Kurkova-Emmons – 1 Month Pregnant
The Olympic games of 2008 became a family affair for Katerina Kurkova-Emmons. She is a member of the rifle team for the Czech Republic and she competed in various rifling events that year. She certainly did not come alone to the Olympics. She came along with her husband Matthew Emmons. Matthew Emmons is also an Olympic competitor and they met at the 2004 Olympic games. The two fell in love and got married in Pilsen in 2007. Katerina Kurkova-Emmons competed in the 50-meter rifle event as well as the 10-meter rifle event. She discovered that she was with child in 2008 and she was one month into her pregnancy while she was competing in the 2008 Olympics.
Cornelia Pfohl Pregnant at Olympics, Twice
Cornelia Pfohl has been to the mountain and back. She is a four-time Olympian who has represented Germany. If you have forgotten, that is the place of all that is beautiful in the athletic world. Cornelia competed in the archery events in the Olympics and how fitting. She was hit by Cupid's arrow twice: She was pregnant in the 2000 Olympics, and she was also pregnant in the 2004 Olympic Games. She was two months pregnant in the 2000 Olympic Games and seven months pregnant in the 2004 Olympic Games.
Lisa Brown-Miller – 2 Months Pregnant
Lisa Brown-Miller was a member of the American Women's Hockey team. This may be the most extreme sport of all, especially for a pregnant woman. Have you ever seen the fights that occur on the ice? Those fights can be the best part of some hockey games, and some of the fights can be downright brutal. How could Lisa Brown-Miller want to compete in the sport of hockey while being pregnant? No one may ever know, but she did compete in the 1998 Winter Olympics for the women's hockey team. The team would even rub her belly for good luck before going out onto the ice. Lisa-Brown Miller was two months pregnant at the time when she competed in the Olympics.