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Nourishing Relationships

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Mothers Capture Precious Medals at the Beijing Olympics


The full range of female athletes on the 2008 Olympic teams makes it clear that age and 
family responsibilities are not the barriers to participation in the Games they used to be. 
Stories from Beijing highlight the courage and resolve of the mothers of the 
world - as they demonstrate their athletic prowess and win gold or silver medals.

Significant are the 20 mothers on the USA Olympic team, including past medalists - swimmer 
Dara Torres, basketball player Lisa Leslie, and softball player, Jennie Finch. Dara Torres 
stands out as a role model for any mother wondering if it is too late to begin again. 
Now age 41, she began participating in the Olympics twenty-four years ago, swimming in the 
1984, 1988, 1992 and 2000 Games. Retiring, getting married and wanting to start a family, 
she skipped the 2004 Games and had a child two years ago. Swimming for fitness after the 
birth of her daughter, Tessa, she thought she was done with competitive swimming.  
But she found that her times were better than ever. 

Eight long years after her last Olympics, Dara marched in the Beijing opening ceremonies 
with 9 medals to her credit, the most of any USA athlete in these Games. Swimming in individual 
and relay team competition, she won 3 silver medals, losing gold in the freestyle individual 
event by only one one-hundredth of a second. She now can now be proud of a record 12 Olympic 
medals in her career - so far! Asked "what will you tell your daughter about your record at 
this Olympics," Dara said, "You don't have to put an age limit on your dreams."

Constantina Tomescu-Dita of Romania, a 38-year-old mother of a 13-year old son, was the 
triumphant gold medal winner of the women's marathon in Beijing. Four years ago in Athens 
she had to relinquish her dreams of an Olympic medal at mile 20 due to heat exhaustion. 
But even then she did not completely quit. She walked for a mile - then started running again, 
coming in 20th in the 2004 competition. This time she was determined to win the race. 
She practiced and practiced in hot weather, firmly focused on avoiding another injury. 
Learning from her past failure, Constantina refused to give up on her dreams and worked 
hard to achieve her goal of Olympic gold. 

Another mother, 33-year-old Oksana Chusovitina, took the silver medal for Germany in individual 
women's vault. Older than most of the other gymnasts by ten years, Oksana had participated 
in four previous Olympics, representing the former Soviet Union and winning a team gold. 
What brought her to Germany at this stage of her career? For the past 6 years her 9-year-old son, 
Alisher, has been treated there for leukemia. When he was first diagnosed, Oksana could not get help 
for him in her native Uzbekistan. Not one to be stopped by the challenges she faced, she and her 
husband moved to Germany to train while Alisher was in treatment. Oksana demonstrates her 
commitment to family by competing for Germany in Beijing.

If you've ever questioned whether you're too old to reach your goals, you can learn a lesson 
from these athletes and mothers. It's never too late to challenge yourself. With maturity, 
drive and focus, you can achieve your dreams. As Dara Torres said, "To me, if it helps anyone 
else out there who is in their middle-aged years, putting off something they couldn't do because 
they thought they were too old or maybe because they had a child, they thought they couldn't 
balance things as a parent - if it shows anyone you can do it, I'm absolutely thrilled." 

© 2008, Her Mentor Center   


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