Kia Nurse says she’s her superhero. Her daughter, Sophie, will eventually call her ‘Mom’ – but given she’s just three months old, that could be a way off yet.
But what Kim Gaucher really wants most at this stage is to be known as an Olympic medalist – the one accomplishment missing from a spectacular twenty-year career with the Canadian women’s national basketball team.
And now the 37-year-old from Salmon Arm, British Columbia will be able to pursue that goal without having to give up breastfeeding her daughter.
The news that the Japanese Olympic Committee had reversed stance and would allow athletes who are nursing their infants to bring their child and a caregiver filtered across the world and various time zones early Wednesday morning.
Previously they had a firm no family policy in order to minimize COVID transmission, but not allowing Gaucher’s daughter and husband seemed incongruous given 80,000 media, sponsors and Olympic personnel – not to mention 11,500 athletes – will be arriving in Japan in the coming weeks.
Gaucher was asleep in her hotel room in Tampa where the women’s team is ‘bubbling’ before leaving for Japan next week when her husband Ben got a text from a family member in France.
The heart-wrenching decision of whether to leave Sophie behind or give up her last chance at fulfilling her Olympic goals to continue nursing her was no longer necessary.
Sophie will be joining her mom in Tokyo.
“Given that the Tokyo 2020 Games will take place during a pandemic, overall, we must, unfortunately, decline to permit athletes’ family members or other companions to accompany them to the Games,” organizers said.
“However, after careful consideration of the unique situation facing athletes with nursing children, we are pleased to confirm that, when necessary, nursing children will be able to accompany athletes to Japan.”
Waiting to find out had been excruciating for Gaucher and unsettling for the women’s team which she has been a central figure on since she was a teenager, helping steer the program from an international afterthought to No.4 in the FIBA rankings and a legitimate medal contender.
The waiting is over, and the news is not only good, but just and fair, with a dollop of symbolism on the side.
“I mean, I’m just really happy,” said Gaucher who had taken to social media as a last-ditch appeal to raise awareness after formal approaches by the Canadian Olympic Committed and Canada Basketball seemed stalled. “I’m just really happy that the right decisions have been made. I mean, being a mom is really hard but it’s also one of the best jobs that I could have. And you know when I started this whole thing when we said I wanted to come back for the Olympics, I wanted to be able to inspire, not just future young Canadian basketball players but, but my daughter Sophie, you know, to be able to tell her that I gave it my all.
“And yeah, to all of the working mums out there who have had to fight this fight before you know I think it’s just a really good time — a really good day for women in sport today.”
The news reverberated around the women’s team who had an off day after their roster was announced Tuesday night.
“The timing’s interesting because we’re on a day off right now and people are just hearing about it on social media at different times. [So] we really haven’t discussed it as a team [yet], certainly for us as a staff, we’re pretty pumped,” said head coach Lisa Thomaidis. “.. [But] it’s definitely good news for Kim, definitely great news for our team and it’s great timing for us to re-focus on what the task is at hand.”
Her teammates are thrilled.
“I mean it was ecstatic for Kim, obviously. Kim has given this program and the national team, her blood sweat and tears for a number of years now and I know personally, we’re a better team whenever she’s on our team because of what she does on the court, but also because of her leadership and her experience,” said WNBA star Kia Nurse who will be joining Gaucher and the rest of the team when they leave for Japan next week.” [Kim] was already a superhero in my eyes but now as a working mom, she’s even more and so I’m very excited that she has the opportunity to come and that it’s a comfortable situation for everyone.”
Gaucher is thrilled also. As a working, nursing, deep shooting Mom, she can get with the Olympian task ahead, which is how it should be.
“I’m very happy that this decision was made,” she said. “So now all I can focus on is Sophie and this team and making buckets and getting a medal.
