Who's In?

After being engaged in rowing, Jin almost had no time to spend with her family members.

    "After I entered the national team in 2003, I have had only ten days each year to spend with my family," recalled she.

and

    "We finally chose Zhang rather than Feng Guixin due to Zhang's daring spirit," said Zhou Qinian, head coach of sculling group of Chinese rowing team.

Happy olympic times, all!

Here's a shout out to the many mothers who model strength, determination, discipline, joy in life, self respect, and healthy habits for their daughters and sons by not giving up their athletic life or pursuits when they have children.

I think either there are more mothers competing at the Olympics in 2008, or else it's they're more public about it. On the American team alone there are 20 or so moms. You can read about them in lots of places--here's one collection of mini-bios.

We've all heard of Dara Torres, a five-time Olympian and now mother of a two-year old at age 41. The American swam to three silver medals in Beijing. 

But I was also impressed with the less well-know (and photographed) Stepanka Hilgertova, another five-time Olympian from the Czech Republic, competing in white water kayak. She too is 41 and has a child. Only he is 20 years old, and also competes on the Czech national kayak team! Hilgertova came in 9th out of 21 in Beijing; she already has two gold medals from previous Olympics at home.

I love the span of choices these women illustrate. Have a child at 20, have a child at 39 ... you can still succeed at other passions alongside mothering.