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The pregnant French fencer will not participate in the Paris Olympics. in an interview with Franceinfo: on May 2, she spoke about her choice to retire and her desire to become a mother.
Charlotte Lembach had to choose between motherhood and the Paris Olympics. The pregnant, 36-year-old fencer, a member of the French fencing team and a silver medalist at the Tokyo Games, recently retired from sports. In an interview with the sports department Franceinfo: published on May 2, she reconsiders this decision and confides in the difficulties she encountered as an athlete while pregnant.
End of career
Charlotte Lembach was supposed to compete in the Olympics this summer. Only “the plans have changed, but for the most beautiful thing,” the athlete told sports media. This pregnancy marks the end of her career, which she nevertheless approaches calmly; “Anyway, I decide to stop. It is not due to injury or suspension. It is not due to injury or suspension. I really enjoyed all of this. We often talk about the small death of an athlete, but I’m not going to experience it, because I’m going to give life. For me, the transition is perfect,” he admits.
In recent months, however, the athlete took part in the qualification protocol of the Olympic Games. “In the end [des entraînements], I was getting tired, he says. I had no symptoms in the first trimester. It was going better. But in the end, I was a little afraid to repeat, repeat, take hits during training. I said to myself. “After all, you’re a bit crazy»»
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Desire for motherhood
During a PMA (medically assisted delivery) procedure, a thirty-year-old newlywed and her partner finally conceived naturally. “Miracle” for a young woman suffering from endometriosis who has been trying to become a mother for a long time. Her desire to become a mother was also subject to the rigid deadlines of high-level athletes. Recently, the pair had planned “PMA protocols based on the completion of the Games qualifiers and whether I was selected or not,” he recounts. “It was clear in our heads that if I qualified, we would start the protocol in September 2024, if I didn’t, we would start it in April.”
It is difficult to reconcile the life of an athlete and the desire to have children. “It’s more of something that we keep under wraps and only reveal when it happens,” continues Charlotte Lembach. And for good reason. “When we tell them we’re pregnant, They appear a little speechless,” says the athlete. Before passing judgment on athletes when they want to become mothers. “Telling our technical and medical staff that we want a child, we are afraid that they will tell themselves “”. To continue thinking about women in sports, Charlotte Lembach suggests “coaching.” The aim is (ultimately) to consider “that performance also plays with menstrual cycles and family life”.
Source: Le Figaro
