Successful female athletes who are also mothers

Women have time and again proved that they are no less than men when it comes to being successful in the sport. But, there are women out there who showed that being a mom and a top athlete at the same time is no big deal either!

They create a perfect balance between their personal lives and the sport they love. The Business Standard (TBS) takes a look at some of the Bangladeshi and international female athletes who are mothers as well.

Farzana Sharmin Mitu

Farzana Sharmin Mitu is a South Asian (SA) Games silver medalist and Army team wrestler. She bagged the silver medal in wrestling in the 2016 SA Games. 

Mitu got married in 2016 and now is also a mother of two children.

Maintaining a career in athletics while having a job, doing household chores and managing children simultaneously is really tough. But Mitu thinks her inbuilt willpower and natural multitasking ability as a woman helps her wear many hats simultaneously. 

Roksana Akter

Roksana Akter, an Army team archer, won a silver and two gold medals in the recently concluded Bangabandhu 12th National Archery Championship. 

Roksana had to leave her 18-month-old baby boy at home in Dhaka to take part in the event, which took place in Cox's Bazar. This was a whole new experience for her.

She joined the Army archery team in 2014 and got married to a businessman in 2016.

Ismat Ara Nishi

Ismat Ara Nishi is a handball and kabaddi player who got married in 2017 and has an 18-month-old boy.

Nishi joined the Ansar handball team in 2008 and also represented the Bangladesh kabaddi team in 2010 Asian Kabaddi in China and the first women's Kabaddi World Cup in 2012 in India, finishing third in both tournaments.

Nishi is finding it a bit tough to manage both home and her career, her husband had to quit his job to look after their son.

But she is determined to continue her career despite all the hurdles. 

Shelley-Ann Fraser-Pryce

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce is one of the fastest female sprinters in athletics history and a role model to women everywhere.

After failing to win a third consecutive Olympic 100m title at Rio 2016, the Jamaican took time out to have a baby.

She returned as strong as ever, winning her fourth 100m world title at Doha in 2019 and taking her World Championship gold tally to nine as part of her nation's victorious 4x100m relay team.

After Shelley-Ann Fraser-Pryce won the 100-meter sprint at the Athletics World Championships in Doha, she celebrated her victory with her son Zyon.

"It was a long journey," the Jamaican sprinter said of the time it took for her to get back into shape – not only physically but also mentally.

Kim Clijsters

When Kim Clijsters became a mother, her tennis career was considered to be over. However, things changed drastically after she won the 2009 US Open when the media labelled it as "The Mother of all comebacks" .

It does not end there! She successfully defended her title in New York in 2010 and won the Australian Open in 2011. 

Dana Torres

Dana Torres can be called the "ambassador" of Olympic moms.

After giving birth to her daughter, she went on to win three silver medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. She is the first swimmer from the US to compete in five Olympic Games, and has won 12 medals in the process.

She's also the first woman to swim in the Olympics after the age of 40.

Serena Williams

Since Serena Williams and husband Alexis Ohanian welcomed Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr. into the world in 2017, she has been following in her mom's famous footsteps 

According to her own account, the birth by C-section of daughter Alexis Olympia on September 1, 2017, almost cost the then 36-year-old her life.

Since returning to the tennis court following a 13-month break, Williams has reached four Grand Slam finals but hasn't won any of them.

Mary Kom

Mary Kom is one of India's finest athletes and has consistently improved her performances after giving birth to two sons.

She is a five-time World Champion and an Olympic bronze medallist at the London 2012 Olympics.

Her success has prompted Bollywood to make a movie on her which is slated to release on September 5. 

Kristin Armstrong

US cyclist Kristin Armstrong's son Lucas looks about as happy as his mother after she won Olympic gold in the time trial at the 2012 Games in London.

In doing so, she defended the title she had won in Beijing four years earlier. In Rio in 2016, she made it three consecutive Olympic gold medals in the race against the clock.