When a female athlete becomes pregnant but has already qualified for and purchased plane tickets to the biggest athletic competition in the world, should she withdraw because of her pregnancy, or should she compete as long as there are no complications?
There’s been a lot of international discussion about Nur Suryani Mohamed Taibi, the Malaysian athlete who will be traveling to London to compete in this year’s Olympic Games. Suryani, a 29 year old shooter who has already won medals at several Asian shooting competitions, will be approximately 33 weeks pregnant - eight months - when she competes.
If you’re trying to picture just how big an eight months pregnant woman can be, I’ll show you.
That’s no longer a tiny bean floating around in there, that’s an honest-to-goodness little person! This is a picture of me, eight months pregnant with our second son, and I was reasonably cheerful as long as I didn’t have to exert myself very much - I can’t even imagine being this size and shape and taking part in the rigorous training that is necessary to be an Olympic athlete.
The Malaysian National Olympic Committee is as nervous as can be, but Suryani insists that she feels strong and healthy, and doesn’t feel that her pregnancy will be an obstacle when it comes to competing. She did withdraw from one competition where she would be required to lie in a prone position, since a belly that size makes it pretty difficult to do so, but her belly shouldn’t interfere with the other events she is scheduled for.
What an amazing example of a hard-working, no-nonsense Mama who is listening to her body and refusing to limit herself when she feels no need to. Despite pressure to change her travel plans or even withdraw from the Games entirely, Suryani is holding her own. She calmly insists that if her body or her baby indicate a need to slow down and withdraw from the competition she will do so. but unless otherwise indicated she will continue training as scheduled and plans to compete normally.
Suryani is not the first pregnant Olympian and undoubtedly she will not be the last, but she will certainly be the farthest along so far. That far along in pregnancy I have been known to get whiny about having to climb the stairs more often than necessary, so I am particularly impressed with this strong and amazing woman who will be braving international travel and the chaos - not to mention the immense pressure - of the Olympics during her third trimester.
In 1920 a Swedish figure skater named Magda Julin won the Gold Medal in women’s figure skating while she was three months pregnant.
In 2006 a German woman named Diane Sartor competed in the skeleton racing event while she was nine weeks pregnant, missing medal placement by a fraction of a second.
In 2010 a woman on the Canadian women’s curling team, Kristie Moore, traveled to the Olympics as an alternate player. Although she didn’t compete in the Games, that doesn’t negate the fact that she trained, traveled with, and was ready to compete with her teammates while five months pregnant.
Pregnancy is a time to be especially conscious of listening to your body and following its cues. If you get the urge to rest, it’s a very good idea to do it. However, listening to your body also means continuing to take part in exercise if it still feels comfortable to do so. There’s no need to limit physical activity during an uncomplicated pregnancy, and in fact keeping physically fit all the way along can help you to have a smoother labor and birth. There are particular warning signs that indicate a need to slow down and get medical attention, such as bleeding, contractions, swelling, or dizziness, but if you feel good and aren’t having any worrying symptoms there’s no need to decrease your normal activity level.
Suryani seems to be very confident in her ability to listen to her body, and so far her body is telling her that she’s good-to-go in these Olympic Games.
Have you ever taken part in an athletic event while you were pregnant? How far along were you, and what activity were you doing?
by Nathalie Arruda
image credit: Reuters via Yahoo! News; Ernst Vikne via Flickr.
http://briobirth.com
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