By Amanda Shalala, ABC News
Three-time Olympian Alyce Wood with her youngest daughter Maeve, December 2025. Photo: ABC Sport
When sprint kayaker Alyce Wood was pregnant with her first child, she always had an eye on returning for the Paris 2024 Olympics.
"And I was lucky enough to make my third Olympics with [daughter] Florence in tow last year in Paris, and it was probably the most special thing of my career," Wood said.
"But it absolutely was not easy. Many times, I questioned myself.
"The way that I did it was a lot of support. I was very open with my sport from the get-go."
And that was vastly different from her mother-in-law, who competed at the 1996 Olympics with a two-year-old.
"They just trained through, there was no support, there was no financial backing," Wood said.
"[The attitude was] if you want to keep paddling with the baby, you just get on with it."
The 33-year-old is now retired and recently had a second daughter, Maeve, who is 12 weeks old.
Australia's Alyce Wood competes in the women's kayak single 500m heats canoe sprint competition at Vaires-sur-Marne on August 7, 2024. Photo: AFP
And as the deputy chair of the AOC's Athletes' Commission, she had input in the organisation's new funding announcement, which will see female Olympians who return to high-performance sport after giving birth receive A$10,000 (NZ$11,500).
Wood said it was a significant investment that could help with childcare and travel costs, but spoke louder than pure dollars and cents.
"It shows a commitment that people are starting to look at female athletes, mum athletes and see that we can help support the Olympic team and the Olympic movement," she said.
"We can be better athletes and better people as well after we have babies."
Showing 'what Mummy can do'
Australia's summer chef de mission Anna Meares had her two children after she retired, but she wants others to know they don't have to wait until then.
"Motherhood and high-performance careers can co-exist and we want to be able to further support that," she said.
"We know women come back stronger after they have become mothers.
"When you have a child, you realise what the human body is capable of. And there is nothing like showing your babies what mummy can do.
"We need to be able to put those role models in place to show women that it can be done and there is a support network in place for you to be able to do it."
Athletes will receive the funding for each child they have, and while they don't have to be selected for a future Games, they need to show an intent to return to high-performance sport.
Australian Opals basketballer Mariana Tolo is currently pregnant with her first child.
The five-time WNBL champion won bronze at last year's Paris Olympics and is undecided on her future.
"It does give you a little bit of extra motivation that if you were to come back and continue to try and be an Olympic athlete, then you would have a little bit of support, and that would go a long way in helping that goal be achieved," she said.
Tolo said while the funding was a boost, broader support was still needed.
"We still need a lot of help. I know when I fell pregnant, I went to my physio and I was like, 'What do I do? What's next?'" Tolo said.
"Going through that process has been really eye-opening for me."
Wood has helped with providing some of those lessons, as the subject of an academic study during her pregnancy and postpartum period.
Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese takes selfies with Australia's chef de mission for Paris 2024 Anna Meares and her children during an event following the return of athletes to Australia, 14 August, 2024. Photo: AFP
"We looked at things like how I was able to hold on to my fitness, my blood levels moving through, my flexibility, things like that," she said.
"Hopefully I play a very small part [in building knowledge], but hopefully in 10 years' time, there's a lot more females doing this and a lot more knowledge.
"I had a baby and came back stronger and faster than I'd ever been before, and there's got to be something in that."
Keeping Olympians active longer
The AOC is investing A$20 million of its money from the Australian Olympic Fund, which it hopes to grow to A$50 million to fund the incentives.
It has been touted as the organisation's most significant funding announcement since the build-up to Sydney 2000.
The current model will run from next year's Winter Games through to Brisbane 2032.
Most of the money will go to retired athletes, who will receive A$32,000 per Games appearance.
But they can only access it 16 years after their first Olympics.
"70 percent of our summer Olympians compete at one Games," Meares said.
"We want to retain our Olympians for longer if they are willing, with the support we can offer to continue to help them build … to extend their career."
All money from the fund is tax-free, although it will be means tested, and athletes can use it for anything they like.
"I look at it like a superannuation contribution," Wood said.
"I retired last year with about A$5000 in my super and I'm 33 years old. So I think this is going to be huge for the athletes moving forward."
Every Olympian will also receive A$5000, and it's hoped the model can be sustained after 2032.
"We're not arguing that this is going to solve every financial problem of an Olympian, but we are making a contribution," AOC CEO Mark Arbib said.
While it's a boost for the Olympic movement, it could widen the gap for Paralympians.
Paralympics Australia (PA) welcomed the announcement, but in a statement acknowledged the AOC's funding stems from "legacy reserves originating from Sydney 2000".
PA says it "did not receive the same level of legacy investment and … continues to rely on strong support from government, corporate partners, philanthropic donors and the wider community to deliver its work to advance the Australian Paralympic Movement".
- ABC
