Motherhood should not be the end of performance sports

It is said that for many high-performance athletes, motherhood brings with it the “kiss of death.” Sounds cynical, but the truth is not far off. One of the Olympic athletes who had the courage to expose the discriminatory practices of large companies in advertising contracts is Allyson Felix, the most medaled athlete in the history of the Olympic Games.

She was already the image of the Nike company, and when her contract expired and she wanted to negotiate, being pregnant, Nike proposed a 70% pay cut in the new contract and did not offer the maternity protections that Allyson requested in contract. The reason: a woman who is pregnant or raising a child no longer has a media exposure to justify a significant amount invested in her. And no possible future of success in the highly competitive era of current athletics.

Allyson has teamed up with two other Olympic athletes – Alysia Montaño and Kara Goucher – to break the agreement not to disclose the information in the sponsorship contract. Their gesture was extremely courageous and took the company by surprise, which relied on its lack of attitude. Allyson accused the company of not supporting pregnant women and new mothers, and detailed her experience in a 2019 opinion piece for The New York Times. I think that’s how I’ve always been perceived: “She will never say anything. She will never speak. ” Contrary to this obedient attitude that Nike hoped, sportswomen talked about this inequity, drawing public attention to this abuse of power that is practiced on women athletes.

Felix eventually gave up Nike and signed with Athleta, a women’s clothing company. Moreover, she built her own shoe brand, Saysh – the truth of her, with which she participated in the Tokyo Olympics. And she won two more medals, becoming the most medaled athlete in the history of the Olympic Games.

At the end of 2018, the athlete went through serious health problems – an emergency cesarean section and the prematurity of her daughter, Camryn. But she recovered and never gave up her performance sports career, proving that motherhood is not an obstacle or an end to her professional career.

On the official Facebook page, Allyson Felix states that “every mother has a mission to work for. As an Olympic athlete, activist and mother, my legacy means more than medals – my attitude changes the world for my daughter and for all the daughters of this world ”.

Also on her page I found this splendid photo showing the 11 medals won during the five consecutive appearances at the Olympics (seven gold, three silver and one bronze) and the scar left after the cesarean section. A very beautiful plastic description of how women build their success – with many wounds, with many injustices, but with the desire to do justice to their fellow men.