Women Who Came Back From Pregnancy to Dominate Track & Field | Can Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone Do it?

In January 2026, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone announced that she is pregnant and expecting her first child. This has led to both celebration, as well as questions on if she could make a successful return to the track, especially ahead of the 2028 Olympics. Though pregnancy has sometimes been seen as the end of an athlete's career, the history of elite women in Track & Field tells a very different story.
We'll look back a few women throughout history, from Allyson Felix and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, to Gwen Torrence and Wilma Rudolph, who stepped away from competition to start families, but returned to win Olympic and World championship medals.
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⏰Video Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
01:12 Women Returning From Pregnancy
03:22 Allyson Felix
05:18 Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce
08:17 Nia Ali
10:33 Lashinda Demus
12:19 Yordonka Donkova
13:24 Gwen Torrence
14:53 Valarie Brisco-Hooks
16:56 Irena Szewinska
18:58 Wilma Rudolph
20:41 Fanny Blankers-Koen
22:43 Summary