I love the Olympics and Paralympics, seeing so many countries come together to battle it out at a bewildering array of sports (some of which I did not know existed) is absolutely captivating.

One of my favourite images during the Olympics was seeing Team GB’s Amber Rutter cuddling her three-month-old son Tommy after winning silver in the skeet final (a form of competitive clay shooting). Amber had had her baby only three months before and, as every mother knows, having a baby takes an enormous toll on the body and mind. To get to the Olympics and win a medal is incredible.

The Paris Olympics and Paralympics have spotlighted the accomplishments of women throughout history, and in 2024 they are classed as the first ever ‘gender-equal’ games. That is, there are as many women as men among the 15,000 competitors.

Of course, it hasn’t always been the case. When the first modern Olympics took place in Athens in 1896, women were not permitted to take part. However, in Paris in 1900 they were allowed to compete in five sports – tennis, golf, croquet, sailing and equestrianism. In all there were 22 female athletes and 975 male.

The first female Olympic champion was Helene de Pourtales, a Swiss-American Countess who became the first female to win a gold medal in the sailing regatta. Other notable female winners were Briton Charlotte Cooper, who won in the tennis, and American Margaret Abbott who took the golfing gold. Interestingly, Abbott’s mother Mary also competed in the golf, finishing seventh. She might possibly be the first mother to take part in the games (I could not find out if any of the other female athletes had children).

It was not easy for elite athletes who also happened to be mothers to compete, and until relatively recently, women who had given birth were expected to give up their sporting careers.

Fanny Blankers-Koen was one of the most successful female athletes ever and at the 1948 Summer Games in London, she was the first competitor from the Netherlands - male or female - to win a gold medal in athletics. She won her first in the 100m dash, her second in 80m hurdles, her third in the 200m dash and her fourth in the 400m hurdles. She was the first woman to win four Olympic gold medals, and the first to do it at the same games. She would have won more had she been allowed to compete in more events, but they were limited to three individual plus one relay.

She achieved all of this in the face of intense criticism thanks to the fact she was married with a young son and daughter. She said later: “I got very many bad letters, people writing that I must stay home with my children.” She was also informed by the British athletics coach of the time, Jack Crump, that at 30, she was “too old to make the grade”. All this was just fuel to Fanny’s fire, and she was delighted to prove the doubters wrong in brilliant fashion, earning herself the patronising nickname ‘The Flying Housewife’. Even more remarkable was that she was only training twice a week in the run-up to the games thanks to the fact she was pregnant.

Fanny is said to have missed her children badly while she as away, and almost left halfway through due to homesickness.

Thankfully, that would be unlikely to happen today because after much campaigning by Olympian mothers, most notably 11-time U.S. medalist Allyson Felix, for the first time this year there is a creche in the Olympic Village. Allyson was motivated by her own difficult experience at the Tokyo 2020 games when her baby was just two: “It was challenging in ways I didn’t expect, like staying in hotels, washing bottles, all the things you have to bring, feeding your baby in stadiums, who’s going to watch your baby.” Now, as well as daycare, the on-site nursery provides things like nappies, bottles, milk and food so that away from the competition, parents can relax and can enjoy genuine family time with their little ones.

I was very impressed to learn were nine mothers who competed for Team GB at the Olympics, seven of whom brought home a medal. I think Fanny would have been impressed.

Do you have opinions, memories or ideas to share with me? Contact me via my webpage at countrymansdaughter.com, or email gazette@gazetteherald.co.uk.