Athletes balance parenthood, career goals
PYEONGCHANG, South Korea
— After finishing her fourth Winter Games in Sochi, Kikkan Randall decided: It was time to have a baby. But the cross-country skiing champion wasn’t ready to give up her Olympic goals.
So, at 32, she looked at the calendar and plotted her window: 2016, a gap year. No World Cup circuit and no Olympics. If things worked out as planned, Randall could get pregnant, give birth and be back in competition and qualify for Pyeongchang.
It’s the kind of calculation many ambitious career women are forced to make. For the three-time World Cup Sprint Champion regarded as a pioneer of American women’s skiing, there was one more challenge ahead before retirement: Pushing herself to a fifth and final Olympics after having a child.
“I’d worked really hard to get the pinnacle of skiing … I knew I couldn’t wait another four years to start a family,” said Randall, now 35, whose record-setting resume has earned her the nickname “Kikkanimal.”
“I’d had an amazing career up to that point,” Randall said. “I just felt like, in a sport like cross-country, where it takes so many years to develop to your top potential, I didn’t want to have to make the choice of career or family. I had a feeling I would be able to come back to skiing stronger, but it was definitely an unknown. If I had to pick one season to miss, it was a good one.”
Randall did get pregnant in 2015. Her son, Breck, was born the following spring . She is the only mother on the U.S. Olympic Team, which also has 20 fathers this year.
When Randall returned to competition in 2016, she wasn’t the only new mom on skis. Randall and her friend and competitor, Aino-kaisa Saarinen of Finland, gave birth within two weeks of each other.
Marit Bjoergen of Norway — regarded as the best woman in the sport — had her child four months earlier. French skiers Aurora Jean, Anouk Faivre-picon and Caroline Hugue, and Slovenia’s Katja Visnar had new babies, too.
Most are competing in Pyeongchang, and have had to balance the challenges of parenthood and career with the help of fellow athletes, friends and family — and not always with the support of their workplace.
Change in priorities
For Randall, skiing has often come first. When she married in 2008, there was training season to consider — along with the Alaska spring. She and Ellis wed at the beginning of May, shortly after both seasons began. One of her coaches officiated the ceremony.
After a couple of tries, Randall conceived in August 2015. She trained throughout her pregnancy, sticking to a shortened version of her twicea-day routine, including running through her seventh month, interval training to keep her heart rate up, and weight training — which got her some funny looks in the gym as her belly grew .
Randall delivered Breck in April and , like many moms, was back at work after six weeks, missing only a month of the training season. She would pump breast milk between workouts, time feedings around her training, and bring Breck along in a baby jogger for hikes and runs. Easing the transition was a supportive husband, who works only in the winter, and Randall’s parents, who live close by in Anchorage.
Unique challenges
Randall had hoped to bring Breck to Pyeongchang for her final Games, but the cost of family housing proved too expensive. The 22-month old is with her husband’s parents in Canada.
Randall said she sees an opportunity for the International Olympic Committee to do more to support athletes who are also parents.
“I haven’t experienced it from the men’s side, but there are unique challenges when you’re a mother,” she said. “We’re not talking about
500 athletes here; we’re talking about maybe 10 mothers, more if we include fathers, and not everyone’s going to take advantage of it. It allows families to be close.”
IOC spokeswoman Emmanuelle Moreau said assistance for athletes is typically provided by their national Olympic committees.
Still, Ellis said after watching his wife over the past two years, it’s doable.
“You don’t have to choose one or the other,” he said. “If anything, she’s a more balanced athlete than she was prior to (having Breck).”