While most expecting women choose comfort at seven months pregnant, Egyptian fencer Nada Hafez has other ideas. Hafez wore her fencing equipment and headed to the Grand Palais on the third day of the Paris 2024 Olympics to compete in the women's solo sabre event.

With 15-13, the 26-year-old won her first match against Elizabeth Tartakovsky of the United States. She lost 15-7 when South Korea's Jeon Hayoung knocked her out in the last sixteen, though. Hafez later admitted on Instagram that she had competed seven months pregnant.

"What did you think of the two players on the podium—they were really three! The Cairo native said, "It was me, my competitor, and my yet-to-come little baby!" Participating in her third Olympics, Hafez expressed great pride in expected performance on the course.

She related the mental and physical difficulties of juggling pregnancy with the demands of elite sports. "The rollercoaster of pregnancy is tough on its own; but, fighting to maintain balance in life and sports was demanding but worth it," she said. Hafez gave her family's help as well as her husband, Ibrahim Ihab credit.

The Paris 2024 Olympics have brought attention to the involvement of athletic mothers since more women with children are competing than ever before. Celebrating the efforts of female competitors, the Olympic village now has a nursery for the first time.

Mother of three and two-time Olympic champion Helen Glover, an Olympic rower, observed that perceptions of moms in sports are evolving at the Games. Returning from retirement to compete in Paris, Glover underlined the difficulties of combining children and competitive sports, stressing that male athletes sometimes go under less criticism about parenthood.