One of the most iconic moments at U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials came during the celebration following the women’s 400m final. After qualifying for her fifth Olympic team – and first as a mom – second-place finisher Allyson Felix introduced her two-year-old daughter Cammy to another toddler: Demetrius, son of first-place finisher Quanera Hayes.
“Can you say we’re going to Tokyo?” Felix asked, right after Demetrius leaned in to give Cammy a hug.
During the impromptu playdate, Hayes made a point of thanking Felix.
“I just told her that I was grateful for all that she’s done for mothers, and her paving the way for me as an athlete with all that she’s done for the sport,” Hayes said.
At the Tokyo Olympics, Felix and Hayes will be joined on the U.S. Olympic roster by at least ten other moms.
One particularly notable stat: For three U.S. athletes – Allyson Felix, Diana Taurasi, and Mariel Zagunis – Tokyo will mark their fifth Olympics, but first as moms.
Moms who have qualified for Team USA for the Tokyo Olympics
Skylar Diggins-Smith – Basketball
After playing the 2018 season while pregnant, four-time WNBA all-star Skylar Diggins-Smith gave birth to her son Rowan “Seven” Smith in April 2019. The Tokyo Games will mark Diggins-Smith’s Olympic debut.
Diana Taurasi – Basketball
Since winning her fourth Olympic gold medal in Rio, Diana Taurasi has become a mom. Taurasi’s wife Penny Taylor, a two-time Olympic silver medalist for Australia, gave birth to the couple’s son Leo in 2018.
In Tokyo, Taurasi and teammate Sue Bird could become the first basketball players to win five Olympic gold medals. The U.S. team will be aiming to win a seventh straight gold medal.
Mariel Zagunis – Fencing
The Tokyo Games will mark the fifth Olympic appearance for Mariel Zagunis (and her first as a mom). Zagunis, a four-time Olympic medalist and the most decorated U.S. fencer in history, gave birth to her daughter Sunday Noelle in October 2017.
Alex Morgan – Soccer
While Alex Morgan never ruled out playing the Tokyo Olympics before the postponement, she was certainly aided by the one year delay. Morgan, who will be making her third Olympic appearance this summer, gave birth to daughter Charlie in May 2020. In Tokyo, Morgan will become the fifth USWNT player to make an Olympic roster after giving birth.
ALSO FROM ON HER TURF: U.S. Olympic team for Tokyo features record number of women
Gwendolyn Berry – Track & Field, Hammer Throw
Gwendolyn Berry is one of the U.S. Olympic team’s most outspoken racial justice activists. At the 2019 Pan American Games, Berry raised a fist on the podium – a demonstration that resulted in her being publicly reprimanded and put on probation by the USOPC.
But last June, during the racial reckoning sparked by the murder of George Floyd, Berry received an apology from the USOPC. And in March, the USOPC announced it would allow racial and social justice demonstrations at U.S. Olympic Trials.
On both days of women’s hammer competition at U.S. Olympic Trials, Berry held up an “Activist Athlete” t-shirt.
Earlier in the week, Berry said the pressure she felt ahead of the final didn’t compare to the pressure she has experienced as a Black woman. She also cited the concern she has for her teenage son Derrick.
“I feel like being Black in America is enough pressure,” she said. “The neighborhoods I grew up in is enough pressure. The things I have to deal with and I have to protect my son from is enough pressure. And I’m here. I’m old enough to be able to handle a lot of this pressure.”
Allyson Felix – Track & Field, 400m
At the 2016 Rio Olympics, Allyson Felix became the most decorated American woman in Olympic track & field history (nine medals, including six gold). Two years later, she became a mother. A severe case of preeclampsia resulted in an emergency c-section and Felix’s daughter Cammy spent her first month in the NICU.
Felix has since raised awareness about racial disparities in maternal mortality, testifying in Congress about her own experience.
At the Tokyo Games, Felix’s fifth Olympic appearance, she could tie or break the record for most medals won by an American track & field athlete. The current record is held by Carl Lewis (10).
RELATED VIDEO: Dear Cammy: Allyson Felix writes powerful letter to her daughter
Quanera Hayes – Track & Field, 400m
Quanera Hayes qualified for her first Olympic team by winning the women’s 400m at U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials and celebrated on the track with her son Demetrius.
Hayes gave birth to Demetrius in October 2018 and said returning to the track was a challenge. “Coming back, it was tough. It was like I had to learn how to run all over again. I couldn’t come out of [the blocks], my stride was different.”
Still, her hardest experience as a mom came last year. Quanera’s husband, Demetrius Sr., is from the Bahamas and baby Demetrius was visiting his grandparents when the island shut down to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“He was stuck in the Bahamas for four months,” she said. “I couldn’t get to him, they couldn’t get to me… It was the worst experience of my life. He was growing up and he was learning new stuff without me.”
The emotional reunion between Hayes and her son was captured in this video.
Sally Kipyego – Track & Field, Marathon
Sally Kipyego finished third at U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials in February 2020 to qualify for her second Olympic team. At the 2012 London Olympics, Kipyego won silver in 10,000 while representing Kenya. She became an American citizen in 2017, the same year she gave birth to her daughter Emma.
“A lot of women have children, and they come back and somehow they run and they’re fantastic,” she said after making the U.S. Olympic team. “That was not my story. My body fell apart. I got sick all the time. I couldn’t even put together a month of training without getting fatigued.”
Brittney Reese – Track & Field, Long Jump
Brittney Reese is one of the most dominant long jumpers of all time. She owns one Olympic gold medal (2012), four outdoor world titles, and three indoor world titles. The Tokyo Games will mark Reese’s fourth Olympic appearance, and second as a mom. In 2016, Reese adopted her godson Alex after a longtime friend was no longer able to raise him.
Aliphine Tuliamuk – Track & Field, Marathon
When Aliphine Tuliamuk won the women’s marathon at U.S. Olympic Trials in February 2020, she had it all planned out: she was going to race at the Olympics in July and then she wanted to have a baby.
But when the Covid-19 pandemic postponed the Games, Tuliamuk and her partner Tim Gannon reassassed their family planning timeline. Tuliamuk announced her pregnancy in December 2020 and gave birth to daughter Zoe in January (after 50 hours in labor).
“In the future, [my daughter] will be able to look back and say, ‘My mom was able to run a marathon at the Olympics six-and-a-half months after having me,'” Tuliamuk told On Her Turf in April. “And I hope that inspires her… and other little girls and boys, too.”
ALSO FROM ON HER TURF: With overseas fans barred from Olympics, new moms ask: what about my baby?
Cat Osterman – Softball
Both Cat Osterman and the sport of softball will return to the Olympics this summer. Osterman, 38, was a member of the U.S. team at the last two Olympics where softball was contested, winning gold in 2004 and silver in 2008. Osterman retired from the sport 2015. The following year, she married her husband Joey Ashley and became stepmom to daughter Bracken.
In 2018, Osterman came out of retirement with the goal of winning gold in Tokyo.
Foluke Gunderson (née Akinradewo) – Volleyball
The Tokyo Olympics will mark Foluke Gunderson’s third Olympics, but first as a mom. After winning silver in 2012 and bronze in 2016, Gunderson gave birth to son Olukayode Ayodele in late 2019.
Gunderson is one of four returning Olympians on the U.S. women’s volleyball roster. In Tokyo, the U.S. will aim to win its first ever gold medal in women’s volleyball. In 11 appearances, the U.S. has finished on the podium five times (three silver medals, two bronze).
A note about Serena Williams
Serena Williams, a four-time Olympic gold medalist, mathematically clinched a spot in Tokyo earlier this year, but on Sunday, June 27, she indicated that she won’t be competing at the Olympics.
“I’m actually not on the Olympic list,” Williams said. “If so, then I should not be on it.”
In May, Williams voiced concerns about whether her daughter Olympia would be able to travel to Japan with her. “I haven’t spent 24 hours without her, so that kind of answers the question itself,” she said then.
Ahead of Wimbledon, Williams did not provide a specific reason for her Olympic decision. “I don’t feel like going into them today, but maybe another day,” she said.
This story will continue to be updated in the lead-up to the Tokyo Olympics.
The NBC Olympics research team contributed to this report.
Follow Alex Azzi on Twitter @AlexAzziNBC
