Procter & Gamble / Press photo:
For the first time, the organizers of the Paris Games are offering equipment dedicated to athletes who are parents of young children. They specifically aim to make life easier for female athletes and encourage their participation in the games. A real step forward, but modest.
This is another “first time” targeted by Paris 2024 organizers. The first equal Olympic Games, the first opening ceremony held outside the stadium, as well as the first kindergarten for athletes in the Olympic Village. A measure that was decided after numerous requests from athletes to be able to keep their children with them during competition.
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It remained to create a system to accommodate them without disrupting the concentration and preparation of the athletes. “We have tried to maintain the family cocoon, which is part of the athletes’ balance and allows them to perform. Society is moving, and it meets the needs of our athletes,” Astrid Gayart, secretary general of the French National Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSF), explained to the newspaper. The world in February.
Reserved rooms and “family area”
Specifically, parents of very young children who are “still old enough to wear diapers,” as the IOC puts it, athletes and their team members therefore have a “family area” of 100 square meters that is open from 9 a.m. to p.m. from 9 “A small, quiet room, away from it all,” according to the magazine Marie Claire . Shuttles connect this area with training and recreation areas. To go further, they are also offered rooms in the hotel of Saint-Denis. They can be accommodated there, as well as the person responsible for the child during the competition, and go there to breastfeed.
French athletes who are parents of older children also have the opportunity to spend time together during the day. During the Paralympic Games, which begin on August 28, athletes with children under one year old will be able to bring them to the Olympic village twice a day to breastfeed. The same rule applies to those whose children under the age of three have special needs or disabilities. “Culture change” in women’s sports, American runner Alison Felix judged in an interview with the TV channel CBS:. “It really tells women that they can choose motherhood and be at the top of their game without losing their groove,” she added.
Long term requirements
Really? Allyson Felix, the most successful athlete in Games history to retire from competition in 2022, is one of those calling for equipment for parents. A member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Athletes Commission, who became a mother in 2018, she had already condemned the difficulties faced by female athletes. Others followed suit, such as French judoka Clarice Agbegnenu, the reigning Olympic champion, ahead of the Paris Games, where she won a bronze medal this Tuesday, July 30. In January, he took advantage of President Macron’s visit, speaking to him about the need for athletes not to be separated from their children.
The Olympic world has come a long way on the subject. In Tokyo in 2021, the IOC sparked a barrage of criticism by banning families from accompanying their parents. A revolt led by female athletes forced the organizers to back down. The first, timid step. Like what Paris made. “Pampers family area (Alison Felix sponsor who funds the space Editor’s note) reveals a small room with a changing table, a bench hidden behind a screen for breastfeeding, small refrigerators and a microwave, and a play area. Let’s be clear, there is no question here of keeping more than three, maybe four very calm children,” this is how the Canadian journalist rewrites in the columns. Obligation . Other voices were raised to criticize the lack of childcare, forcing athletes to rely on their families or hire their own babysitters. A first step, then, but perhaps no more.
Source: Le Figaro
