Breastfeeding Canadian basketball player Kim Gaucher says she cannot take baby to Olympic Games
By John Sinnott and Aleks Klosok
Kim Gaucher is a breastfeeding mom. She is also a Canadian basketball player who wants to represent her country at the Tokyo Olympics that start next month.
In an Instagram video she posted this week Gaucher says she can’t do both because “Tokyo has said no friends, no family, no exceptions.”
Gaucher says she is not allowed to bring her three-month-old daughter, Sophie, with her to the Games.
“All I have ever wanted out of my basketball career is to (represent) at the Olympics,” added Gaucher, who is 37 year old. “Last year, my teammates and I qualified for Tokyo.
“Right now, I’m being forced to decide between being a breastfeeding mom or an Olympic athlete. I can’t have them both.”
“Trying to get the word out …. it’s hail Mary time,” Gaucher wrote in the caption of the video.
In a statement to CNN, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said, “it’s highly unlikely that entry into Japan will be guaranteed this summer for unaccredited people from overseas,” due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“National Olympic Committees (NOCs) are responsible for the composition of their delegations at Games time and the IOC is aware that a small number of them have been dealing with requests from athletes to bring their children on a case-by-case basis,” added the IOC statement.
Gaucher has been playing with the Canadian women’s national team since 2001.
She helped her team qualify for London 2012, the first Olympic tournament Canada Basketball made since 2000, according to the Canadian Olympic Committee.
“The Canadian Olympic Committee and Canada Basketball recognize how difficult this situation is and have been supporting Kim at her request. In any other Games scenario, we would have long ago found a solution,” said Canada Basketball in a statement to CNN.
“The COC and Canada Basketball have made an appeal to the Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee so that Kim can have her daughter and husband in Japan while she competes at her third Olympic Games.
“We are awaiting an official response while Kim continues to train and travel with Canada Basketball to prepare for the Games.”
Tokyo 2020 did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2021 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.
