Mum really was the word for Team GB at Paris 2024.
A record nine mothers represented Great Britain at the Olympic Games, offering emphatic proof that raising a family and being an elite athlete need not be mutually exclusive.
This has come about due to world-leading pregnancy guidance issued by UK Sport, helping the high performance system support mothers through their sporting journeys.
Here is how the nine mothers got on at the Games: spoiler alert, they did pretty well…
Katy Marchant, cycling
Marchant was back in the gym right after giving birth to son Arthur in 2022 and returned to the velodrome six months postpartum.
Continuing the momentum of mums in track cycling, the Leeds native evolved from an individual rider into a vital cog in the team sprint wheel.
With Arthur and the rest of her clan trackside at the Olympic velodrome, Team GB broke the world record three times in one day to claim a stunning gold, with Marchant the first British mum to win the event.
“Arthur was a bit overwhelmed – as were we – but it was special to have him there,” she said. “He’s a huge part of my journey as well.”
Bianca Williams, athletics
Williams welcomed son Zuri into the world a few weeks before the world went into Covid lockdown.
After fighting her way through some tough times and off the track, Williams found that being a mother gave her a new outlook on life as a sprinter.
“Having Zuri changed my perspective on life within sport,” she said. “He’s now my main focus, he is number one and he is my priority. He has taught me that there is more to life.”
Williams has been representing GB for a decade and Paris was remarkably her first Olympics. It ended in a podium place as she ran the heat of the women’s 4x100m relay, eventually collecting silver thanks to her team-mates’ performances in the final.
Ros Canter, equestrian
On the family farm in Lincolnshire, Canter’s daughter Ziggy grew curious about her mum’s movements.
“I was trying to creep out to go to the gym at 5am when she woke up and said, ‘Why are you always leaving?’" Canter said.
"I sat her down and we had a chat about how mummy had an important summer coming up, and that hopefully she would enjoy watching it.”
Ziggy certainly would have enjoyed watching mum Ros combine with Laura Collett and Tom McEwen to win a brilliant gold in team eventing: the first time Team GB have won back-to-back golds in that event since the 1970s.
Charley Davison, boxing
Davison, a youth European gold and world silver medallist, took a step back from the sport when she was 19 after becoming pregnant with her son Arnell.
The Suffolk fighter assumed her career was over when she had Armani and Amir but she got back into the ring at Tokyo 2020.
She continued the juggling act to qualify for a second Olympics at Paris 2024.
"I like the fact people realise mums are still able to fulfil their dreams after having children," the 28-year-old said. "Life doesn't stop just because you've had kids."
Mathilda Hodgkins-Byrne, rowing
A Tokyo Olympian, Hodgkins-Byrne trained throughout her pregnancy - undergoing an hour of low-level cardio work everyday and giving birth in 2022.
She stepped back into rowing in 2023 and a year later her son Freddie, was in the stands to watch his mum make the podium in the women’s double sculls event.
Hodgkins-Byrne became the first mother to win a medal for Team GB in an Olympic rowing and was followed by mum-of-three Helen Glover less than an hour later.
“If anyone out there is considering whether it's possible or not - it's hard,” said Hodgkins-Byrne, “Your recovery is terrible at times, but you never get stuck in the stress bubble.”
Lizzie Deignan, cycling
Deignan is a true pioneer when it comes to motherhood in sport and made her fourth Olympic appearance in Paris.
In 2018, she became the first female rider in the pro peloton to announce she was pregnant and intended to come back to the sport.
“For me, it was an emotional time because I just expected people to be happy for me and not everybody was,” she said. “Not everybody understood that I was still going to come back.”
With the support of trade team Trek-Segafredo, Deignan did so and her legendary status in cycling is assured.
Amber Rutter, shooting
Rutter attempted to do something no-one had ever done in aiming for the Olympics just three months after giving birth to son Tommy.
Having made her debut as a teenager at Rio 2016 and missed out on Tokyo having contracted Covid, Rutter got the Parisian fairytale she craved.
She won silver in a thrilling climax to the women’s skeet event and was surprised by husband James and son Tommy in the crowd.
“I know Tommy might not remember it but I definitely will so I’m so glad they made the journey,” said Rutter.
Elinor Barker, cycling
Barker later found out that she was carrying son Nico while winning silver in the team pursuit at Tokyo 2020.
The Welsh star returned to the Olympic stage in Paris and won another silver with Neah Evans in the madison as well as bronze in the team pursuit.
In doing so, she became the most decorated Welsh female Olympian of all time.
“If British Cycling hadn’t seen the opportunities, and what’s possible, they might have been far less likely to offer me such encouragement," Barker said. "So I thank those women who have gone before and blazed a trail."
Helen Glover, rowing
Glover became the first mum to row for Great Britain at the Olympics in Tokyo.
Continuing to juggle an athlete's life with bringing up Logan, Kit and Willow, Glover returned to the Olympic stage with medals on the mind.
She got her wish and won silver in the women’s four to become the first British mum-of-three to win an Olympic medal.
"I feel like I worked so hard in the Tokyo year to break into the team as a mum, and I think now we're reaping the rewards for that hard work," said Glover.
"Rowing came second to a lot of the battles I had to fight throughout that year and now those battles are fought, hopefully every single mum that comes back can have a journey based on performance, rather than proving that mums can do it.”