In the summer of 90, Maryse Éwanjé-Épée, 26, was by far the best French jumper. Finalist at the Seoul Olympics two years earlier, she is undisputed in the France team. But at the announcement of her pregnancy, it is the rupture. “I very quickly received a registered letter from my partner and then from the federation telling me that I was losing my Olympic scholarship and that I was losing my partnerships, and that I will find them when I find the French team”says the former athletics champion.
“My trainer gave me meal tickets on the sly so that I could eat from time to time at the Insep canteen, but otherwise I had nothing.”
Maryse Éwanjé-Épée, former athletics championat franceinfo
Judokate Clarisse Agbegnenou announced on Monday February 7 that she was expecting her first child. The double Olympic champion nevertheless assured that she would be back for the Paris Olympics in 2024. The subject is still taboo: according to a survey of 700 female athletes, 61% of them think it is difficult to become a mother during a sports career. In
In July 2021, 26-year-old pole vaulter Ninon Guillon-Romarin, holder of the French record at 4.75 m, had fallen from much higher when she learned that she was not one of the 378 tricolors selected for the Tokyo Olympics. . The French Athletics Federation assured franceinfo that it was based solely on the performance of the athlete, who had given birth five months earlier. His club denounces a “patriarchal decision full of injustice”.
In 2019, Cléopâtre Darleux, goalkeeper of Brest Bretagne Handball, experienced a pregnancy that was certainly more peaceful financially: her club kept her salary. But the gaze and the words of the others have not really changed. “It’s never something that we announce like that and that passes quietlysays the athlete. For the moment, we are not comfortable with that. I cried the same morning when I went there, I knew it could create a conflict, to be seen as a limit of betrayal.
“I had not warned them before signing my contract, it may have harmed me.”
Cléopâtre Darleux, Brest Bretagne Handball goalkeeperat franceinfo
In 1992, Maryse Éwanjé-Épée, who gained 33 kilos, jumped 1.91 m. She fails to achieve Olympic minimums and is therefore deprived of the Barcelona Olympics for one centimeter. In 2020, Cléopâtre Darleux, supervised by professionals, regains an exceptional level and is crowned with the Blues in Tokyo in 2020.
An example to reassure coaches according to Carole Maître, gynecologist at Insep. “The concern for the sporting environment was the return to high levelshe explains, because there is of course an absence of competitions for several months, so they must be reassured about the muscular, cardio-respiratory and technical capacities of the sportswoman who will not change and who will be able to find themselves at 4 to 6 months after childbirth.”
A physical framework that progresses but it still fishes on the logistical side. “How can you go to training with your baby or how best to organize suitable crèches and how to support these sportswomen in a practical way? I think we still have a little way to go”, acknowledges Carole Maître. According to the survey of the Ministry of Sports, the year of birth of the first child is now that of the best performances.