Breastfeeding athletes will be able to bring children to Tokyo Olympics

Olympic athletes who are nursing, including U.S. marathoner Aliphine Tuliamuk, had pleaded publicly for Tokyo organizers to allow them to bring their infants to Japan.

With just more than three weeks to go until the opening ceremony, Tokyo organizers announced Wednesday they would allow those athletes to bring their young children with them.

The decision comes after athletes who had recently given birth publicly discussed the hardship leaving their infants at home placed on them. Citing an International Olympic Committee spokesperson, Yahoo reported earlier this week that it was "highly unlikely" that "unaccredited people from overseas" would be able to attend.

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, Japan is not allowing fans to travel from other countries to the Games, meaning athletes’ families are unable to attend.

But organizers stated Wednesday that they would allow Olympians to bring their children.

“After careful consideration of the unique situation facing athletes with infants, we are pleased to confirm that, when necessary, young children will be able to accompany athletes to Japan,” the Tokyo organizing committee said in a statement.

Organizers said those children would be restricted from accessing the Olympic village. Reuters, which first reported the news, reported that they must stay in approved hotels.

Tokyo organizers did not immediately respond to questions about how many athletes would be impacted by the decision and whether caregivers would be allowed to accompany the young children.

OPINION: Mothers nursing their children should be allowed to bring them to Tokyo, writes Nancy Armour

Tuliamuk and Canadian basketball player Kim Gaucher, who have infants, have publicly shared how not being with their children and not being able to nurse them would impact them.

Tuliamuk won the U.S. marathon trials in February 2020 and moved up plans to start a family with fiancé Tim Gannon after the COVID-19 pandemic forced the postponement of the Games last year. Their daughter, Zoe, was born in January.

Tuliamuk told the Washington Post that she hoped her daughter would be able to go.

“If I’m going to perform my best, she’s going to have to be there with me — and I hope she will be,” she said.

This week, Tuliamuk posted a photo to Instagram of her nursing Zoe, saying that she had “cried a lot” since going through team processing and facing leaving her daughter.

“I want her to know that even in the face of challenges that she can still follow her passion and prevail, “ she wrote. “Now I need to tell this to myself, that even in the face of challenges like leaving my now 5month old breastfeeding daughter behind for 10 days to race at the Olympics, I can prevail and show her how to be strong.”

In a video she posted to Instagram earlier this week, Gaucher explained that she would not be able to pump enough breastmilk for her baby for the 28 days she would be gone and that options to ship it back were difficult.

“Right now, I am being forced to decide between being a breastfeeding mom or an Olympic athlete,” Gaucher said. "I can’t have them both. Tokyo has said no friends, no family, no exceptions."

The IOC previously told Yahoo that a “small number” of national Olympic committees had requests from athletes to bring their children.

In a statement, the IOC said, “We very much welcome the fact that so many mothers are able to continue to compete at the highest level, including at the Olympic Games.”

Follow reporter Rachel Axon on Twitter @RachelAxon