For many years, being a mom and having a career was not the norm. Professional female athletes were no exception to this narrative. These three professional athletes have done what many believed was impossible- become moms while competing at the highest level of sports. They, among many others, are now sharing their experiences as well as trying to change this old-fashioned way of thinking. Learn more about these iconic sports moms and their legacies.
Allyson Felix is an 11-time Olympic medalist in Track and Field. She became a mom in 2018 and trained her way back to the Olympics in 2020 after a challenging pregnancy. During her training, Felix realized that much like other moms around the world, there is a lack of support for female athletes once they have children- she set out to change that!
In 2024, Felix partnered with Pampers to open the very first Olympic Village nursery for Olympian parents. According to an interview with NBC, the nursery was “a space where families can get away from it all and have some of the comforts of home. They can have playtime and have places to feed their babies.” Having a place to take your athlete hat off and put on your mom hat gives Olympian parents a sense of home and normalcy that can help improve their mental performance. Felix continues to be a proactive voice for athletes who are mothers as an elected member of the International Olympic Committee Athletes’ Commission.
With 4 Olympic gold medals, 23 Grand Slam titles and many other accolades, Serena Williams is one of the most well-known female athletes of all time. Her daughter Olympia is now 7 and has taken to sports like a natural! Olympia can be found participating in a variety of sports such as golf, soccer, and dance. Though she will also pick up the tennis racket with her mom, tennis isn’t her number one choice. Williams jokes that she gets jealous that Olympia likes soccer more than tennis, but no matter what sport she picks up next, Williams supports her daughter’s youth sports journey as well as her creative side.
Even as a professional athlete with elite level stamina, Serena admits motherhood is challenging. Williams posted to her X account that, “Far too often being a mom is a thankless full time job, with no time or energy left to care for yourself or move at the end of the day. I’m gonna thank my mom tomorrow for all she did for me -the things seen and unseen.” It shows that no matter how fit or prepared you may be, motherhood is a difficult but rewarding journey for many.
Olympian and professional soccer player, Alex Morgan, became a mom in 2020 and gave birth to her second child in 2025. She is still playing in the NWSL for the San Diego Wave, and stated that she will keep playing as long as she loves the game, but her larger focus now is making the game better for the next generation of soccer players and being a supportive parent.
In a 2022 interview, she said, “My parents were so supportive and I want to be that too—not overbearing. What is soccer when you’re young? Seeing your friends. Enjoying the car rides with your parents and siblings. It’s going to get pizza or ice cream after the game, win or loss. There is so much more than the end result of winning. As a professional athlete we put an emphasis on winning but a lot of 8 or 10-year-olds are putting pressure on themselves— and it needs to be fun.” She wants young athletes to have fun and love the game, after all that’s what got her to this point in her career. Morgan continues to fight for equality in women’s sports; she wants young girls to have equal opportunity at becoming professional athletes.
Hopefully, seeing more moms succeed in professional sports helps motivate the world to support women in any career, even if they also want to have children. We admire these women for challenging the status quo not only as female athletes, but as moms.