Olympic athlete told she was 'too fat' to compete after giving birth and accuses Nike of including 'anti-pregnancy' clause in her contract

Daily Mail UK ^ | September 12, 2025 | BEN WILLCOCKS

[Libloather]

Quite the education -

Can Men Get Pregnant?

Yes, it’s possible for men to become pregnant and give birth to children of their own. In fact, it’s probably a lot more common than you might think.

https://www.healthline.com/health/transgender/can-men-get-pregnant#if-you-have-a-uterus-and-ovaries

[Bikkuri]

"To me it makes her more goddess like?!"

I suppose... if I was married to her, and it was my baby.. 😉

[CondoleezzaProtege]

And it’s sad that in so many contexts up till now: pregnancy is treated like a disease.

[Right_Wing_Madman]

pregnancy is treated like a disease.

She was not denied the opportunity to qualify for the 2016 Olympic team when she was pregnant. She just wasn't good for enough to qualify. However, she did qualify for the 2020 team. Her story is pretty amazing, really.

[Jamestown1630]

A transgender man is a biological female.

A transgender woman is a biological male.

The article is about a natural She who got pregnant.

[Governor Dinwiddie]

"Honey, do these pants make me look fat?"

"No they don't make you look fat. You are fat."

[Jamestown1630]

From what I read, she only failed to qualify because she was pregnant and the committee didn’t ‘trust’ her; not because he couldn’t perform.

[Jamestown1630]

s/b SHE couldn’t perform.

[shanover]

Everything is a sport in the new Olympics. Nobody really cares anyway.

[Right_Wing_Madman]

From what I read, she only failed to qualify because she was pregnant and the committee didn’t ‘trust’ her; not because he couldn’t perform.

I did some digging and there seems to be more to this story. Apparently for female windsurfing, there were two qualifying events to qualify for the 2016 Olympics: the Sailing World Cup in Miami in January 2016 and the Trofeo Princesa Sofia Iberostar Regatta in Spain in March 2016.

Blanca Manchon, who is from Spain, did not compete in either qualifying event. Manchon gave birth in December 2016, which means she became pregnant in March 2016, which means she was not pregnant for the first qualification in Miami in January 2016. According to one source, she did not compete in the Miami event because she focused on recovery from giving birth in late 2015! So she gave birth in late 2015, and again in December 2016. She was a very productive woman.

[BusterDog]

Has it been proven that they inseminated her contract with the pregnancy clause?

[Secret Agent Man]

Wow

[Morgana]

https://www.espn.com/olympics/trackandfield/story/_/id/11142115/pregnant-runner-alysia-montano-runs-800-meters-us-track-field-championships

https://alysiamontano.net/

https://sports.yahoo.com/why-heptathlete-competed-at-us-olympic-trials-while-18-weeks-pregnant-234637619.html

[scrabblehack]

‘In my federation, the head of Olympic preparation told me, ‘Blanca, either you’re competing in two months or I can’t justify your being on the team.’ I asked him, ‘What did I do wrong?’ and he replied, ‘Since you’re pregnant, the bosses don’t trust you’.

---

Are there automatic qualifiers? Could the coach put her on the team even if she didn’t participate in the qualifiers?
It sounds like that’s what she wanted to happen.

I recall Carl Lewis’ sponsors wanted to put him in the 4x100 relay even though he finished 8th in the final qualifier. (He otherwise qualified in the long jump, so he did make the team). Such a move is extremely rare except in the case of injury. The coach said no.

[where's_the_Outrage?]

“Women can be physically active while pregnant”

I worked with a triathlete women, 2 days before she gave birth I saw her running (not jogging) down the road. I asked her about the possible effects on the baby, she responded that her obstetrician is a marathoner.

The baby girl came out fine and mom continued to compete.

[Varda]

All contracts are discrimination. Don’t like it, don’t sign it.