Talk to make things happen. Between the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and the Paris Games in 2024, several French athletes took a maternity break from their careers, with the choice, for many of them, to breastfeed their baby. “At Insep, 80% of those who had a child after the Tokyo Games breastfed estimates Carole Maître, gynecologist at the National Institute of Sport, Expertise and Performance (Insep). If they were not the first to do so, Clarisse Agbégnénou, Valériane Vukosavljevic and Cécilia Berder were on the other hand the first to talk about it and to want to reconcile their breastfeeding with their sporting career.
For these three athletes, breastfeeding was even an obvious choice. “I didn’t see my motherhood differently,” says basketball player Valériane Vukosavljevic, who resumed matches with her club at the time, Basket Landes, two and a half months after giving birth.
“I always managed to find a way so that baby was never far from me. If I had to breastfeed her during half-time or at the end of a match, I would take her with me into the locker room and I would was breastfeeding.”
Valériane Vukosavljevic, player of the French basketball teamat franceinfo: sport
To always have her daughter close to her during the first months, despite the resumption of matches, Valériane Vukosavljevic had to set up an organization specific to her needs and was able to count on the understanding and support of her coaches, all of them women. “Then, when I found the French team, I told them that I had breastfeeding in place and that I wanted to continue. They asked themselves the question, because they were confronted for the first time with this kind situation. It was my condition, and they accepted it”, remembers the USK Prague winger, bronze medalist at the Tokyo Olympics when she was three months pregnant, and who continued to breastfeed her daughter until she was 17 months old.
“It’s not easy for everyone”
Judokate Clarisse Agbégnénou, double Olympic champion in 2021 and six-time world champion, also imposed her choice to breastfeed during her return to the tatami mats. Since then, she has even been particularly engaged on the subject, whether in her interviews or on her social networks. “As I had expressed my wish to breastfeed my daughter, I was given the opportunity to do so and take my time,” confides the one who gave birth to her daughter in June 2022.
The judokate in fact receives financial assistance from the National Sports Agency (ANS) which can allow her to have a companion in each competition and each training course to take care of her daughter. “In these conditions, I know that my daughter is safe with me, that also allows me to feel good and move forward,” she explains.
Although the arrival of a support person was a great help, the change took a long time to begin. “I didn’t have help from the start, we had to discuss a lot. And I think that thanks to my Olympic title and my world champion titles, reflection was able to be initiated on my case and on my support in view of the Paris 2024 Games. But it is not given to everyone, which is a shame”, she regrets. If the ANS does not have specific financial aid for breastfeeding, it does however release global envelopes (which pass through the sports federations) to each of the athletes who are part of the Performance Unit, so that they can lead to their sporting project well. This is the case of Clarisse Agbégnénou, who decided to allocate part of her budget to take care of her daughter.
Clarisse Agbégnénou even went even further and moved the lines within the International Judo Federation. “I also had the right to have my daughter in the warm-up room for all competitions, which was a huge change, because that didn’t exist before. It wasn’t even written in the rules. Following my request, the international federation changed this rule for me and future mothers. she emphasizes. Behind her personal case, Clarisse Agbégnénou hopes that these advances are only a first step.
“I hope that these arrangements will continue and that it was not only with the aim of the Games in Paris. My case will create a precedent and shows that there is an open door,” once again launches judokate, which encourages sporting authorities to “ask the athletes the question and give them the choice”. Paradoxically, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has always authorized breastfeeding for athletes during the Olympic Games.
Coping with staff not yet sufficiently trained
Whether they received financial aid or not, these mother-athletes also had to deal with the “D system”. All mothers for the first time, they had to discover breastfeeding, but also what it implied for them and their child within the framework of the high level. “It was resourcefulness, confirms the saber fighter, Olympic team vice-champion in 2021 and mother since May 2022, Cécilia Berder. You read books and learn vocabulary. And for the rest, it was really my friends who saved me, who helped me when I couldn’t even lift my arms because my breasts hurt so much.”
Because compared to them, the medical and sports staff were rarely up to date. “With my staff, we discovered everything on the job. We gave each other information, we discussed it to do things well. But it was a test for everyone, because it had never happened in the judo”, testifies Clarisse Agbégnénou.
“The initial fear of the technical staff is the difficulty of returning to the high level. But today, scientific publications have clearly shown that it is possible to return to the high level, even at a better level, due to personal development. of the sportswoman”, notes the gynecologist from Insep, Carole Maître. Because far from received ideas, “breastfeeding does not reduce sports performance”, and even allows athletes “to return more easily to their ideal weight”, adds the specialist.
However, we had to learn to manage the surge of milk during training, breast pain and fatigue, as breastfeeding consumes a lot of energy. Clarisse Agbégnénou experienced this: “Sometimes my training was not suitable. I would then tell my sparring team to be careful during technical training.”
“It’s not like period pain, which lasts a week and then passes. Here, it’s every day. It takes a good few months of adaptation. And sometimes, you have to grit your teeth.”
Clarisse Agbegnenou, judokate, Olympic championat franceinfo: sport
Things get complicated when preparation courses resume, even more so when it is the first without your child. Saberwoman Cécilia Berder was forced to stop breastfeeding following an internship trip. At the time, mother and daughter, then five months old, had never been separated.
“I anticipated stopping breastfeeding a fortnight before the course but it wasn’t enough. For her, as for me, it was a little brutal. My breasts were very tight. During training, there were a lot of things that I couldn’t do, it actually made the girls on the team laugh a lot”, she says.
“One day I was asked to do jumping jacks. I couldn’t jump. My chest was too tight and full of milk. It was painful.”
Cécilia Berder, saber fighter, Olympic team vice-championat franceinfo: sport
“So I adjusted my training with floor exercises, she continues. In hindsight, I would have anticipated a month and a half before, and expressed my milk more. Stopping breastfeeding requires a certain gentleness that high-level sport does not necessarily have. It would have been better if she had come with me, but the timing wasn’t right.”
Progress still insufficient
Clarisse Agbégnénou, Valériane Vukosavljevic, Cécilia Berder and even the French football team player Amel Majri, are all part of this generation of athletes who have helped break this taboo and shake things up. Although breastfeeding has gradually become demystified in high-level sport, the journey is not yet over.
“It’s mixed, Clarisse Agbégnénou slice. Of course, we talk about it a little more, but it still remains difficult, and not all athletes are in the conditions to be able to breastfeed for a long time. I think I must be the only one [à encore allaiter]. It’s still too slow, but the fact that several of us are talking about it will encourage other athletes to do it.” slips the one who wants to make it easier for future mothers to reconcile their lives as mothers and high-level athletes.
The end of the taboo will also require broader support for these mother-athletes, with dedicated spaces in the infrastructure and greater medical support. “Without my physiotherapist (who followed her during and after her pregnancy), I would have been a little lost, especially regarding the preconceived ideas of the medical staff. So having a more open and sensitive staff on the subject would reassure us and guide us.” admits Valériane Vukosavljevic.
“Sports structures are not designed to provide privacy, supports Carole Maître. These athletes, who are pioneers, are only a few, and they adapt as best they can. Daycare centers should also be opened on training sites with wide opening hours. Things are improving but there is still work to be done.” It now remains to be seen whether the process is well and truly underway so that breastfeeding will only be a formality in four years, by the Los Angeles Games.