奥运赛场上的妈妈级选手

Trying to be a mother and a champion Olympian simultaneously is a tough task, but the Beijing Games has its fair share of mums juggling their duties.

Some of the better-known include British marathon runner Paula Radcliffe, American tennis star Lindsay Davenport, and Japan's seven-time world judo champion Ryoko Tani.

But there are plenty more changing nappies one minute and training the next.

Italian fencer Valentina Vezzali hasn't let having a child get in her way of being the best in the world, making Olympics history here by becoming the first person to win three successive individual titles with victory in the foil.

She did it for her son.

"My son asked me for a medal, but he didn't ask for a particular one," she said. "Here it is."

Judoka Xian Dongmei put family matters on hold to achieve her Olympic dream, and now she is China's first gold-medal mum, she can't wait to return home.

"I miss my child so much," said Xian who defended her women's -52kg title.

"After the Olympics I will go back home quickly and make up for the love I have missed."

Xian gave birth to daughter Liu Jiahui in January last year, had been criticised in local media as "cold-hearted" for giving up feeding her baby after seven months to focus on her Olympic build up.

They are not the first supermums to win a medal after going through labour.

Ethiopia's Derartu Tulu, the 10,000-metre Olympic gold medalist in 1992, won the title again in 2000 two years after giving birth to a daughter.

And Australia's Jana Rawlinson, missing from Beijing due to injury, famously regained her 400-metre hurdles world title last year just eights months after having a baby.

Davenport, 32, is another. She is one of a handful of mothers still playing on the WTA Tour, returning last year after giving birth to Jagger with the specific goal of playing the Olympics.

Sadly for her, injury has forced cut short her singles dream, but the doubles remain on her radar.

又当妈妈又当奥运冠军并不是件容易的事，但在北京奥运会上，有这样一些妈妈级运动员们两件事都没有耽误。

英国马拉松运动员宝拉•拉德克里夫、美国网球明星林赛•达文波特以及七届世界柔道冠军、日本的谷亮子等都是她们当中比较有名的人物。

但是像他们一样前一分钟还在忙着换尿布，下一刻就得去训练的运动员还有很多。

意大利击剑选手瓦伦蒂娜•韦扎利并没有因为孩子的出世而停下迈向世界冠军的脚步，她成为奥运历史上首位连续三次夺得该项比赛个人冠军的运动员。

她这样做都是为了她的儿子。

她说：“我儿子问我要一枚奖牌，不过他并没有说具体要哪一块。就这块好了。”

柔道运动员洗东妹为了她的奥运梦想把家庭放在了一边，如今，她成了中国第一个冠军妈妈，她已经迫不急待要回家了。

成功卫冕柔道52公斤级冠军的洗东妹说：“我太想念我的孩子了！”

“奥运会之后我要马上回家，好好补偿她。”

冼东妹在2007年1月生下女儿刘佳慧，七个月后她便给女儿断奶以集中备战奥运。为此，当地媒体曾批评她太“冷血”。

不过，她们可并不是第一代产后拿奖牌的超级妈妈。

1992年奥运会女子10000米金牌得主埃塞俄比亚运动员德拉尔图•图卢在2000年再次获得该项目冠军时，她的女儿只有2岁。

因伤未能参加北京奥运会的澳大利亚运动员加娜•罗林森在去年重获400米栏世界冠军时刚刚生完孩子八个月。

还有32岁的达文波特。她是为数不多至今还活跃在女子网球联合会巡回赛赛场上的妈妈选手之一，她在去年生下儿子贾格尔，之后专门为参加奥运会而复出。

不幸的是，她的单打冠军之梦因伤而破灭了，但是，她仍然会竭力备战双打比赛。