With or without the benefit of hindsight, Serena Williams’ victory at the Australian Open in January was sublime. The ‘greatest female tennis player of the Open era’ won her 23rd Grand Slam without dropping a set. But when you learn she did it while in the early stages of pregnancy, the feat becomes exceptional.
So how is it possible to win a Grand Slam while pregnant?
Dr Markos Klonizakis, a senior research fellow at Sheffield Hallam University, says the triumph at that stage of pregnancy is “amazing”. It is not easy for any woman to adapt to changes in her body, let alone while playing sport at an elite level,” he said.
“Physiologically, the main challenge women face within about five weeks of pregnancy is in adapting to changes to the cardiovascular system.
“These are rapid and ensure blood and oxygen supply to the foetus.
“Many women feel they cannot breathe as easily as their heart rate increases.
Professor Janice Rymer, of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, added: “For elite athletes, a tailored training and nutrition plan would normally be developed with a specialist team. High levels of exercise at around eight weeks gestation should not affect pregnancy for these athletes and those used to high levels of exercise.
“During the first few weeks of pregnancy these hormones may actually boost physical performance as a woman’s natural production of steroids will increase slightly.”
However, Williams is not the first elite athlete to compete while pregnant.
Before Serena, the sporting world has been awash with female athletes who have showed extraordinary courage while at advance stage of pregnancy.
Nigeria’s table tennis queen, Olufunke Oshonaike who appeared at her sixth Olympic Games in Rio – only the second African women to do so – carried on playing when she was seven months pregnant, despite her “big belly”.
A former Super Falcon goalkeeper Ann Chiejine has said that she was not aware of the four month pregnancy that was discovered by the test conducted by the Federation International Football Association (FIFA) before her participation in the Sydney 2000 Summer Olympics, Chiejine represented Nigeria in three World Cups in 1991, 1995, 1999 and the 2000 Summer Olympics.
“I didn’t know that I was pregnant, it was not good, it was FIFA that brought me out and I later discovered that I was four month pregnant,” she said.
British Olympic cycling champion Laura Kenny told BBC Radio 5 live: “I was still competing when I first found out I was pregnant. I actually won the madison nationals with Elinor Barker when I was about five or six weeks pregnant, but any time after that I just feel like it is so intense that I wouldn’t have been able to [compete].”
Only last week, American swimmer Dana Vollmer competed in an elite 50m freestyle race while six months pregnant.
“As hard as people think this is, the race is only 30 seconds long as opposed to the entire day I spend holding and chasing around a 35-pound two-year-old,” she said.
“This will feel like a break.”
In June 2014, Alysia Montano competed in the 800m quarter-finals of the US track and field championships while eight months pregnant.
The then 28-year-old runner, who received a standing ovation after completing the race in 2 minutes 32.13 seconds, told the Daily Mail: “I’ve been running throughout my pregnancy and I felt really, really good during the whole process.”
Her finishing time was 35 seconds slower than her personal best of 1:57.34, but she added: “I just didn’t want to get lapped and be the first person to get lapped in the 800m.”
And marathon world record holder Paula Radcliffe said in 2015: “My priorities changed the minute I knew I was pregnant, and everything I did centred on the baby.
“I lost that competitive instinct. It wasn’t about running certain times in training anymore.”
