Malaysia's pregnant Olympian does not need medal to be a winner

Sunday, 29 July 2012 09:30

BY PAM LOBLEY

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

NOW THAT’S FUNNY

When I was eight months pregnant with my first child, I was stretched out on the sofa watching my legs swell up. Nur Suryani Mohamed Taibi competed in the Olympics.

According to the Inquisitr, Suryani is 34 weeks pregnant. She is an Olympic shooter and competed in the 10m rifle event on behalf of her country, Malaysia. She qualified for this event last January and, a few days later, found out she was pregnant. With her husband’s support, she decided to go ahead and compete anyway.

Who says we gals can’t have it all? Suryani is married, pregnant, and pursing her dream. That’s a champion, in my opinion.

Pregnant athletes have competed before. As The Toronto Sun reported, three other women — Canadian Kristie Moore (2010, curling team, five months pregnant), German Diana Sartor (2006, skeleton racer, nine weeks pregnant), and Swede Magda Julin, (figure skater, 1920) — have performed in the Olympic games. Magda won the singles competition. She was three months pregnant.

The Guardian reported that Suryani came in 34th in the competition, which was held Saturday. Siling Yi (China) won the gold, Sylwia Bogacka (Poland) won silver and bronze went to Dan Yu (China) 501.5.

Suryani had also qualified for the 50m rifle competition, but since that event requires the shooter to lie on their stomachs, she had to pass on that one.

To those critics that said she couldn’t or shouldn’t be competing, Suryani has said that she did not see any reason to give up her dream, and that she is a stubborn woman. She is also an extreme optimist, because she said that she would be asking the baby to be quiet for an hour and fifteen minutes while she competed. Asking your baby to cooperate — that is the definition of hopeful. I begged my babies to be quiet, so I could sleep or just take a shower, but they did not see fit to accommodate me.

If this woman can get her baby to be quiet just by asking, then she truly has the gold.

Pam Lobley writes the “Now That’s Funny” column. Her book, “You Definitely Know You’re a Mom When …” is now available on Kindle. Follow her on twitter @plobley.