Three-time Olympian Nada Hafez was pleased to be among the final 16 of 64 competitors in the women's sabre individual competition, even if she advanced no further. "Pride fills my being," the Egyptian fencer, who turns 27 next month, wrote Monday on Instagram, revealing she is seven months pregnant, per CBS News. "What appears to you as two players on the podium, they were actually three!" wrote Hafez, who was formerly a national gymnastics champion in Egypt. "It was me, my competitor, & my yet-to-come to our world, little baby!"
Hafez, a clinical pathologist ranked 26th in the world in her sport, said she and her unborn child had faced "both physical & emotional" challenges. "The rollercoaster of pregnancy is tough on its own, but having to fight to keep the balance of life & sports was nothing short of strenuous, however worth it," she continued, per the Guardian. "You are such a badasss (sic) mama to be!" one commenter wrote. Another joked that it was "cheating to fence 2 against 1." But others suggested Hafez should've stayed home and let another Egyptian competitor take her place. "We won't win anything you being 7 months pregnant," read one complaint.
Hafez, who logged an upset win over 7th-ranked Elizabeth Tartakovsky of the US in the round of 32, acknowledged the criticism in an Instagram story. "When I mentioned my pregnancy it was to shed light on the strength, perseverance and relentlessness of the Egyptian woman," she wrote. "I'm not the only athlete to have participated while being pregnant; there have been many other international champions who have played pregnant so long as there are no medical restraints to stop them. I'm so proud of representing Egypt in the Olympics and showing what Egyptian women are capable of!" (More 2024 Paris Olympics stories.)
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