When U.S. hockey star Kendall Coyne Schofield announced her pregnancy in March 2023, fans and colleagues didn’t congratulate her on her next chapter — they assumed it was her last.
“A lot of people said, ‘Hey, congratulations on a great career,'” she recalled months later. “I didn’t announce my retirement. I just said I was pregnant.”
That assumption — that motherhood and elite sport can’t coexist — is exactly what a growing number of U.S. Olympians are now dismantling. Coyne Schofield, along with bobsledder Kaillie Humphries, bobsled pilot Elana Meyers Taylor, and curling sisters Tabitha Peterson Lovick and Tara Peterson, are proving that you don’t have to choose between raising kids and winning medals.
Kaillie Humphries: “Failure after failure, I believed.”
For Humphries, the journey to motherhood was anything but simple. After four Olympic medals and years spent prioritizing bobsled over family, the 38-year-old endured a grueling IVF process — 70,000 USD, two rounds of egg retrievals, three failed embryo transfers, and side effects including medically induced menopause. All of it, she says, was done “largely on [her] own,” since fertility treatments aren’t covered by USOPC insurance.
“There was a period where I questioned if I was ever even going to be a mom,” she said, fighting back tears. Her persistence paid off. Son Aulden was born in June 2024, and she’s preparing to bring him with her to Milano Cortina for what will be her sixth Olympic Games.
“For a while … I’m ashamed to admit it, I listened,” she said, of being told she could never be a mom and an athlete. “But failure after failure, I believed in myself and my body … sport has taught me that.”
Kendall Coyne Schofield: “He’s the reason I continued.”
Coyne Schofield, a four-time Olympian and centerpiece of the U.S. women’s hockey team, says her son Drew — born July 1, 2023 — became her reason to keep going.
“I wanted him to know he wasn’t the reason I stopped playing hockey, but the reason I continued,” she said.
She returned to training with the help of expanded maternity policies from USA Hockey, the PWHL, and the USOPC, including extended postpartum coverage, child care stipends, and guaranteed return-to-play invitations. She also helped negotiate those very benefits into the PWHL’s first collective bargaining agreement — finalized the same day Drew was born.
“Really, both babies were born on the same day,” she said. “It wasn’t planned in any way … but the professional hockey landscape has supported me.”
Coyne Schofield now hopes she’ll become just the second mom to play Olympic hockey for Team USA, after Jenny Potter. “I can’t wait for number three and 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and beyond.”
Elana Meyers Taylor: “Let’s give it one more go.”
After giving birth to her second child in late 2022, Meyers Taylor didn’t know if she’d ever return to the sport. She was dealing with back problems and diastasis recti, and at one point, couldn’t lie flat for six weeks.
Yet just 15 months later, the five-time Olympian won silver at the 2024 World Championships in monobob. Now, she’s going to her fifth Olympic Games.
“I don’t always get optimal training, but we work to have the best days we can,” she said. Her sons, Nico and Noah, will be there in Cortina, cheering her on.
Tabitha and Tara Peterson: “More… worth it.”
Team USA curlers and sisters Tabitha Peterson Lovick and Tara Peterson experienced a different kind of team bonding recently — they became moms within weeks of each other during the 2024-25 season.
Both curled their way to Olympic qualification at the U.S. Team Trials with toddlers in tow. “When we win and do well, it feels more…,” Lovick began, before Peterson finished, “… worth it.”
Both women received $5,000 “Bring the Babies” grants from For All the Mothers+, a nonprofit supporting Olympic moms with travel and child care costs. Meyers Taylor, Humphries, and skeleton athlete Kelly Curtis were also recipients.
“It puts everything into perspective,” Peterson said. “If something doesn’t happen, I still have this baby that I get to squish, and he’s going to love me unconditionally.”
Changing the Game — and the Culture
Maternity benefits, nonprofit grants, and increased visibility have all helped athletes stay in their sport — but it’s the mindset that’s shifting most.
“It took seeing other women to showcase that it could [be done],” said Humphries, citing trailblazers like Serena Williams and Allyson Felix. “To be able to have both now … I really hope to be among those women.”
That inspiration is already working. These Olympic moms aren’t just redefining what’s possible — they’re rewriting the rules for a new generation of athletes and parents alike.
