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Opinion
Nike Told Me to Dream Crazy, Until I Wanted a Baby
Being a mother and a champion was a crazy dream. It didn’t have to be.
By Alysia Montaño
Video by Max Cantor and Taige Jensen
Written and Produced by Lindsay Crouse
Alysia Montaño is an Olympic runner and three-time U.S. national champion.
- May 12, 2019
Olympic runner Alysia Montaño had accomplished all her dreams but one: being a mom. When she finally went for it, she faced her biggest challenge yet — her sponsors.CreditCreditEzra Shaw/Getty Images
In the above video, the United States national champion Alysia Montaño turns Nike’s ad rhetoric against her former sponsor: If companies want to stand by the inspirational slogans they tout, they must ensure sponsored female athletes receive maternity leave.
Many athletic apparel companies, including Nike, claim to elevate female athletes. A commercial released in February received widespread acclaim for spotlighting women at all stages of their careers, from childhood to motherhood. On Mother’s Day this year, Nike released a video promoting gender equality.
But that’s just advertising.
The economics of sports like track and field are different than those of professional sports like basketball or soccer. In track, athletes aren’t paid a salary by a league. Instead, their income comes almost exclusively from sponsorship deals inked with apparel companies like Nike and Asics.
The best of the best can supplement that income with prize money from winning races outright. But the majority of athletes — who are often the breadwinners for their families — sign exclusive five- or six-figure deals that keep them bound to a single company.
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Many American laws protect the rights of pregnant employees — they can’t be fired, for instance. But, since professional athletes are more like independent contractors, those protections don’t apply.
When Alysia Montaño ran in the 2014 United States Championships while eight months pregnant, she was celebrated as “the pregnant runner.” Privately, she had to fight with her sponsor to keep her paycheck.
Sponsors do sometimes pay new mothers — Serena Williams is branded as a famous example. But those who do get paid often have to beg for the money.
Ms. Goucher made more than a dozen unpaid appearances on behalf of Nike during her high-risk pregnancy. She had to wait more than four months to disclose that she was pregnant, so that Nike could announce it in The Times for Mother’s Day.
These kinds of pressures can lead to health complications. Ms. Goucher, for instance, has suffered from chronic hip injuries ever since she raced the Boston Marathon seven months after childbirth.
“It took such a toll on me mentally and physically, for myself and for my child,” said Ms. Goucher. “Returning to competition so quickly was a bad choice for me. And looking back and knowing that I wasn’t the kind of mother that I want to be — it’s gut wrenching.”
New mothers don’t just deal with their sponsors. Top athletes receive health insurance from The United States Olympic Committee and U.S.A. Track & Field. But that insurance can vanish if women don’t place in the top tier of the nation’s most competitive races. Ms. Goucher and Ms. Montaño both lost their health insurance because they were unable to compete at that level while having their children.
“Some people think women are racing pregnant for themselves,” said Ms. Wright. “It sometimes is, but it’s also because there’s a baby to feed.”
