Mom archer joins her 5th Olympics after freezing breast milk for her baby

“I am now about 2/3 of the way to my minimum goal of 75 bags. After a month of crazy, including late nights to get an extra express in…”

British archer Naomi Folkard shared a photo of 50 packs of breast milk on July 9 on her social media before heading to the Tokyo Olympics. She made it to get 14 liters of milk on July 18 until she flew to Japan for her loving baby girl Emily. She even ordered a new refrigerator to ensure more storage space.

Folkard gave birth to Emily in February after experiencing a heartbreaking miscarriage. When Emily was born, the archer mom seriously considered not going to the Olympics. However, she was reminded of all the effort that she had made to be part of the competition. She wrote, “She’s got 14 liters of milk for 15 days so I am sure she won’t miss me too much,” Folkard said showing her determination to the 5th joining of the Olympics.

The Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games reversed an earlier ban on breast-feeding athletes traveling with their babies to Japan. However, some of them chose to visit Tokyo by themselves due to growing concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic.

British rower Helen Glover, a mother of two children – Rogan, 3, and Bo & Kit, a 16-month-old twin, decided to join the Olympic women's rowing as it was put back by a year. She recalled that she considered quitting her career as she had not been able to train herself due to childcare, adding that she did jump squats to avoid Lego pieces on the floor after she made up her mind to go to Tokyo.


leper@donga.com