There is talk of a baby boom in Dutch top sport. In the past this was often the end of their career, but now women see pregnancy as a temporary interruption, like judoka Kim Polling.
Kim Polling always thought she didn’t want to be a mother until after her top sports career. But then she was suddenly 30, far from done with judo but ready for motherhood. ‘I was in a split. I really wanted to continue with judo, but I wanted to get pregnant even more. My friend said: you can do both, right?’
Polling is due to have a daughter in June. She is part of a large group of Dutch sportswomen who are currently pregnant and who want to get back into the sport afterwards. Sailor Marit Bouwmeester, clean jumper Inge Jansen, all-around champion Nadine Broersen and handball player Lois Abbingh are also expecting their first child this year. Shot putter Melissa Boekelman gave birth to a girl this week.
How do they do that financially? Until a few years ago, pregnancy in a sport such as cycling, football and athletics was a reason for immediate dismissal or a significant salary reduction. There are still major differences per sport, but there is a shift now that more women are discovering that top sport is a profession that can be combined with motherhood.
What happens during a pregnancy depends on how the sportswomen earn money: are they employed by a club, such as handball players or football players? Do they live on a stipend from NOCNSF, such as athletes, judokas and sailors? Or is a sponsor the main source of income, such as in cycling?
In the Netherlands, most Olympic athletes are dependent on sports umbrella organization NOCNSF, through a scheme paid by the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport. The best athletes are entitled to a monthly allowance, the stipend, which they must secure each year by meeting a certain level. If you don’t perform, you can lose your income.
Athlete as an employee
Athletes who are pregnant have been entitled to leave and maternity benefits for about five years now. ‘The same applies to top athletes and pregnancy as to non-athletes. If the athlete is in paid employment with an employer, they are entitled to maternity leave and maternity benefits’, says Els van Kernebeek, operational manager top sport at NOCNSF. ‘This also applies to athletes who receive a stipend.’
In the case of pregnancy, the A status can be extended without consideration until a later measurement moment. There is no fixed period for this. Van Kernebeek: ‘The union coordinates this with NOCNSF. We try to guide this from a holistic perspective with attention to the psychological impact and the role of the environment.’
Judoka Polling had an A status until March. She was promised that she will receive an extension so that she does not lose her income and health insurance during the pregnancy. In team sports, someone can also be part of the team again after giving birth. ‘The association can then temporarily receive an extra status, so that another athlete can join temporarily and during the leave’, says Van Kernebeek.
As well as it seems on paper, in practice NOCNSF’s arrangements are relatively unknown. Not all top athletes seem to know the maternity arrangements. Sailor Marit Bouwmeester is due in May. The information that her status can be extended due to pregnancy is new to her. “I think my status would expire sometime in September. I just assumed I’d be back by then to make him safe again. I wasn’t aware of that arrangement, but it’s nice that such a thing exists.’
Bouwmeester says he has not yet dealt with the finances. “Money has never interested me. I do this because I have a passion for it.’ The sailor feared she would have to choose between having a baby and another Olympic campaign. ‘Of course you never know whether you will succeed in conceiving quickly and whether there will still be enough time left to get to the right level.’ The winner of Olympic gold, silver and bronze in the Laser Radal did not have to wait long. When we got back from Tokyo, it hit the spot right away.
Payment
For diving athlete Inge Jansen, who is expecting her first child in June, the stipend based on her A status is the only income. Because of her fifth place at the Tokyo Games, she would have the allowance until August anyway. ‘I asked about that status, I was told not to worry for the time being. Something would be arranged. That’s nice. At a certain point you will also make choices for Inge as a person, and less for Inge as an athlete. I didn’t want to put off my childhood dream for another three years.’
Meerkamp star Nadine Broersen can no longer rely on the top sports supplement. She already lost her A-status after Tokyo because she did not reach the level of the years before. She is expecting a boy in May and is now living on unemployment benefits. “It was a downer that I lost that status, but I was already a discussion case. Fortunately, I have a loyal car sponsor who is always there for me and I am entitled to benefits because I have had that status for years and have always worked alongside it. I don’t know how it will be. I think I’m going to work next to it again.’
When athletes are employed by a club, they increasingly receive good guidance in the event of pregnancy. When former international Daphne Koster was pregnant in 2014, she lost her status with the Dutch team. At her club Ajax she continued to be paid and she was coached after her leave.
After that, as manager of women’s football at Ajax, Koster fought for a better collective labor agreement so that football players can become mothers in peace during their career. Two years ago, the world football association Fifa also introduced a policy on pregnancy. Expectant players must be given a minimum of fourteen weeks leave with medical supervision and assistance on their way back onto the field.
A revolution also took place in cycling, where in the past cyclists sometimes immediately lost their jobs when they were pregnant. Former cyclist Iris Slappendel founded cycling union The Cyclist Alliance in 2017 to fight for better regulations. ‘One of our goals was maternity leave for cyclists’, says Slappendel. ‘Top athletes who are employed by a team often fall a little outside the law. Thats crazy. Some contracts went against all European regulations in that area. That has now changed.’
Now some teams use mothers as role models. The 33-year-old British winner of the first Paris-Roubaix for women, Elizabeth Deignan, was left without a team in 2018 when she became pregnant for the first time. Recently, her team Trek combined the news of her second pregnancy with a two-year contract extension. Dutch rider Chantal van den Broek-Blaak also felt free to discuss her wish to have children. She extended her contract with SD Worx until the end of 2024 and will keep her job if she has a child in between.
Traditional sponsors
Handball player Lois Abbingh is happy to be playing in Denmark now that she is pregnant with her first child. In the past, she signed contracts stating that she would be fired immediately if she couldn’t play anymore because she became pregnant. ‘You still have contracts like that in the former Eastern Bloc countries. In Denmark it is very well organized. I am already on leave because I have a risky profession. I stopped playing at 13 weeks and still get paid.’
In addition to clubs and national federations, athletes also depend on sponsors for their income. They don’t always respond well to the good news. In America, Nike has been discredited several times in recent years, because the company extremely shorts pregnant athletes. Nike was forced to adjust the contracts after outrage until the American congress. Since 2019, nothing has been deducted from the salaries of athletes in the eight months before and the ten months after birth.
Kim Polling also lost her clothing sponsor during her pregnancy. The four-time European champion in the 70-kilogram class has been sponsored for the past five years by Adidas through the company Double D, which manages the French license of the clothing brand. Her contract expired after the Games. Polling wanted to continue judo in an Adidas suit, but was told that talks about an extension would not be possible until she got back on the mat.
At the beginning of this year, the judoka was promised that she could get shirts for her growing belly. Polling continues to train to come back quickly and fit. ‘There would be a voucher in the store that I could use to shop. Well, that turned out not to be the case when I was there. My name was suddenly no longer on the list. It wasn’t much what I asked. I just wanted some shirts in a bigger size.”
Polling reads an e-mail in which her contact says that there is nothing for Double D to sponsor or support during the pregnancy, because there are no maternity clothes. “Our answer is clear. We can talk again when you get back into action,” Double D wrote.
Retrieval of de Volkskrant Double D responds that after a ‘redefinition of the marketing strategies’, other choices were made that ‘have nothing to do with her wish to have children’. “The contract expired after the Games, as was clear before. We wish Kim all the best.’ Polling has now switched to competitor Mizuno, which does believe in her future as a judo mother.