{"id":314689,"date":"2024-06-30T11:44:17","date_gmt":"2024-06-30T16:44:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=314689"},"modified":"2024-07-01T12:35:38","modified_gmt":"2024-07-01T17:35:38","slug":"olympian-swimmer-competing-becoming-mom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/olympian-swimmer-competing-becoming-mom\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Olympian swimmer competing again after becoming a mom: ‘I wanted to prove myself’"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

A former Olympic swimmer from Czechia (Czech Republic) spoke candidly during a recent interview about how motherhood has shaped her swimming career for the better.<\/p>\n

Petra Weber says that though she is mother of a four-year-old, that hasn’t slowed her down, and she is looking forward to the European Aquatics Masters Championships in Belgrade this summer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started competing a lot more in the Masters category after I had my daughter and found that it was a much better environment in terms of atmosphere and mental wellbeing,\u201d she told European Aquatics<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Weber spoke about how giving birth to her daughter prematurely completely changed her outlook on swimming.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to come back after giving birth to my daughter, but my (national team) contract was terminated due to the age factor,\u201d she said. \u201cI tried to swim and coach fitness until I gave birth, which was almost two months early, but my premature baby completely changed my life and I turned my brain off from swimming.”<\/p>\n

READ: After 25 years away from gymnastics, this mom made a comeback to win gold<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

She then turned some of her focus to working with an organization that helps premature babies. \u201cSince having a prematurely born daughter I learned how non-profit organization Nedoklubko<\/a> helps families of premature babies and I approached them to say I would love to work with them. I have been active for Nedoklubko as a coordinator for the \u00daPMD (hospital) in Prague, where I gave birth and where they took a great care of my daughter Lilli.\u201d<\/p>\n

Weber also discussed the difficulties and stigma she faced after giving birth, especially as she tried to come back after Lilli’s condition improved.<\/p>\n

“I never wanted to stop my professional swimming career when I found out I was pregnant,\u201d she said. \u201cEven though no-one helped me in my comeback, except my fitness trainer Pavel Prov\u00e1zek, I was determined to come back. I wanted to prove to myself and the people around me that I could do that and compete again with girls who are 20 years younger.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like so many other professional athletes, Weber shows that motherhood<\/a> and athletics<\/a> are not mutually exclusive; some of the greatest athletes are also mothers.<\/p>\n

Now, Weber is looking forward to her young daughter cheering her on in the upcoming Masters Championship. \u201cI am very happy that my daughter Lilli will be there with me as it\u2019s great to be able to introduce her to a multicultural environment and to experience such atmosphere in early childhood,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m sure she will want to enjoy the medal ceremonies with me too, in case I am successful!\u201d<\/p>\n

The DOJ put a pro-life grandmother in jail for protesting the killing of preborn children. Please take 30-seconds to TELL CONGRESS: STOP THE DOJ FROM TARGETING PRO-LIFE AMERICANS.<\/i><\/b><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A former Olympic swimmer from Czechia (Czech Republic) spoke candidly during a recent interview about how motherhood has shaped her swimming career for the better. Petra Weber says that though she is mother of a four-year-old, that hasn’t slowed her down, and she is looking forward to the European Aquatics Masters Championships in Belgrade this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":607,"featured_media":314761,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[9455,5,3473],"tags":[20632,20634,10340,20633,20631],"yoast_head":"\nFormer Olympian swimmer competing again after becoming a mom: 'I wanted to prove myself'<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Former Olympic swimmer Petra Weber has not been held back by motherhood, and she's excited for her daughter to cheer her on.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/olympian-swimmer-competing-becoming-mom\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Former Olympian swimmer competing again after becoming a mom: 'I wanted to prove myself'\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Former Olympic swimmer Petra Weber has not been held back by motherhood, and she's excited for her daughter to cheer her on.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/olympian-swimmer-competing-becoming-mom\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Live Action News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-06-30T16:44:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-07-01T17:35:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Photo-shared-publicly-on-Instagram.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Bridget Sielicki\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Bridget Sielicki\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/olympian-swimmer-competing-becoming-mom\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/olympian-swimmer-competing-becoming-mom\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Bridget Sielicki\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/354818e37fca891455094342cfaacf2f\"},\"headline\":\"Former Olympian swimmer competing again after becoming a mom: ‘I wanted to prove myself’\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-06-30T16:44:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-07-01T17:35:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/olympian-swimmer-competing-becoming-mom\/\"},\"wordCount\":481,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"European Aquatics\",\"Nedoklubko\",\"Olympics\",\"Pavel Prov\u00e1zek\",\"Petra Weber\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Human Interest\",\"International\",\"Newsbreak\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/olympian-swimmer-competing-becoming-mom\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/olympian-swimmer-competing-becoming-mom\/\",\"name\":\"Former Olympian swimmer competing again after becoming a mom: 'I wanted to prove myself'\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2024-06-30T16:44:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-07-01T17:35:38+00:00\",\"description\":\"Former Olympic swimmer Petra Weber has not been held back by motherhood, and she's excited for her daughter to cheer her on.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/olympian-swimmer-competing-becoming-mom\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/olympian-swimmer-competing-becoming-mom\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/olympian-swimmer-competing-becoming-mom\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Former Olympian swimmer competing again after becoming a mom: ‘I wanted to prove myself’\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Live Action News\",\"description\":\"Covering Human Rights, Abortion, & Pro-Life Issues\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Live Action\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png\",\"width\":701,\"height\":710,\"caption\":\"Live Action\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/liveaction\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/liveactionorg\/\",\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/LiveActionFilms\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/LiveActionFilms\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/354818e37fca891455094342cfaacf2f\",\"name\":\"Bridget Sielicki\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9cf04f4b8f1370c0d4ec72e4c6913a37?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9cf04f4b8f1370c0d4ec72e4c6913a37?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Bridget Sielicki\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/author\/bridget-sielicki\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Former Olympian swimmer competing again after becoming a mom: 'I wanted to prove myself'","description":"Former Olympic swimmer Petra Weber has not been held back by motherhood, and she's excited for her daughter to cheer her on.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/olympian-swimmer-competing-becoming-mom\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Former Olympian swimmer competing again after becoming a mom: 'I wanted to prove myself'","og_description":"Former Olympic swimmer Petra Weber has not been held back by motherhood, and she's excited for her daughter to cheer her on.","og_url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/olympian-swimmer-competing-becoming-mom\/","og_site_name":"Live Action News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction","article_published_time":"2024-06-30T16:44:17+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-07-01T17:35:38+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":600,"url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Photo-shared-publicly-on-Instagram.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Bridget Sielicki","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@liveaction","twitter_site":"@liveaction","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Bridget Sielicki","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/olympian-swimmer-competing-becoming-mom\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/olympian-swimmer-competing-becoming-mom\/"},"author":{"name":"Bridget Sielicki","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/354818e37fca891455094342cfaacf2f"},"headline":"Former Olympian swimmer competing again after becoming a mom: ‘I wanted to prove myself’","datePublished":"2024-06-30T16:44:17+00:00","dateModified":"2024-07-01T17:35:38+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/olympian-swimmer-competing-becoming-mom\/"},"wordCount":481,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization"},"keywords":["European Aquatics","Nedoklubko","Olympics","Pavel Prov\u00e1zek","Petra Weber"],"articleSection":["Human Interest","International","Newsbreak"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/olympian-swimmer-competing-becoming-mom\/","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/olympian-swimmer-competing-becoming-mom\/","name":"Former Olympian swimmer competing again after becoming a mom: 'I wanted to prove myself'","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website"},"datePublished":"2024-06-30T16:44:17+00:00","dateModified":"2024-07-01T17:35:38+00:00","description":"Former Olympic swimmer Petra Weber has not been held back by motherhood, and she's excited for her daughter to cheer her on.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/olympian-swimmer-competing-becoming-mom\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/olympian-swimmer-competing-becoming-mom\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/olympian-swimmer-competing-becoming-mom\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Former Olympian swimmer competing again after becoming a mom: ‘I wanted to prove myself’"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/","name":"Live Action News","description":"Covering Human Rights, Abortion, & Pro-Life Issues","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization","name":"Live Action","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png","width":701,"height":710,"caption":"Live Action"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction","https:\/\/twitter.com\/liveaction","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/liveactionorg\/","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/LiveActionFilms\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/LiveActionFilms"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/354818e37fca891455094342cfaacf2f","name":"Bridget Sielicki","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9cf04f4b8f1370c0d4ec72e4c6913a37?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9cf04f4b8f1370c0d4ec72e4c6913a37?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Bridget Sielicki"},"url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/author\/bridget-sielicki\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314689"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/607"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=314689"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314689\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":314894,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314689\/revisions\/314894"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/314761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=314689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=314689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=314689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}