Archer Yayragul Ramazanova She competed in the archery qualifiers for the 2024 Paris Olympics and won in a surprise move while carrying a fetus on her back as a good-luck charm.
“I felt the baby kick before I shot the last arrow and I got a 10,” the Olympic debutant, who is six-and-a-half months pregnant, told China’s state-run News Agency. Xinhua News Agency On August 5, she scored 10 points, her highest score, and won the China An QishuanThey were considered a favorite to win.
“During my training for the Olympics, I never felt uncomfortable with my pregnancy. Rather, I felt like I was fighting alongside my baby, not alone,” she said.
Ramazanova was unfortunately eliminated in the next round but added that she was happy because she “tried her best.”
“I felt the baby kicking me before I shot the last arrow and I got a 10.”
Meet Yayragul Ramazanova, an Azerbaijani archer who is seven months pregnant and the first athlete from her country to compete in this event.
Cheers to the amazing women we know, nurture, and hope for… pic.twitter.com/DPsgvAVX27
— Miye Tani! (@Miye_Tani) August 3, 2024
Team USA Archer Casey KaufholdThe world number one was also impressed with Ramazanova’s achievement.
“I think it’s great to see pregnant women taking part in shooting at the Olympics and I think it’s great to have pregnant women in archery,” the 20-year-old said. Associated Press“Her shot was really good, which is pretty amazing because my coach is also a mother and works so hard to support her kids while she’s away.”
“I think it’s great that this archer can one day tell his or her child, ‘Hey, I went to the Olympics and so did you,'” Kaufhold added.
Stories of athletes competing while pregnant are becoming more common.
Egyptian Nada Hafez Competing in a fencing competition last week, the athlete revealed that she was seven months pregnant and had been fencing for two years. “Even though it looks like there are two fencers on the podium, there are actually three! It was me, my competitor and my little baby who is yet to come into this world!”
The athlete added that her pregnancy presented “significant challenges” for herself and her unborn child throughout the competition, both “physically” and “mentally,” but that she overcame them and made it happen.
In addition, American beach volleyball star Kerri Walsh Jennings She won her third gold medal five weeks into her pregnancy, unaware that she was pregnant with her third child.
“I was fearlessly moving forward and chasing a gold medal for my country, and at the same time, I was pregnant,” she told Today after the 2012 London Games.