In celebration of the 2024 Summer time Olympics and Paralympics in Paris, GLAMOUR has launched Change The Document, a collection devoted to the ladies of Workforce GB, who’re flipping the narrative on what it means to be an elite feminine athlete – from competing on their durations, balancing coaching with being pregnant and motherhood, navigating physique picture pressures, and sure, chasing world data.
Right here, we chat with Olympic shooter Amber Hill – who returns to the Olympics simply three months after giving delivery to her son – about coaching as a first-time mum, shifting her perspective after disappointment at Tokyo 2020 and the significance of talking up about psychological well being…
Skeet shooter Amber Hill almost stop her sport in 2021 after a shock-positive COVID take a look at dominated her out of the Tokyo Olympics. “The only reason I continued was to pay my bills,” she says. I wanted the sponsorship and the cash to have the ability to principally stay and stick with it. For a yr after that, I used to be actually turning as much as competitions for no different purpose. I used to be in such a foul place.”
However at this time, as she prepares to compete once more at Paris 2024, she has a brand new mindset – after welcoming her child son, Tommy, simply three months in the past.
“Now, what I think about is the story I want to tell him when he’s older. I want him to know that it was really, really difficult, but his mum took an opportunity to put herself first – I was a mum and a sports person. I went out there, and I did my very best for him. And just showing him that, you know what? Your life doesn’t have to stop. You can make both things work. But for me, being his mum will always be the priority over everything.
“Since having Tommy, I’ve just realised that there’s so much more to life than our sport—even though it’s such a big part of me and requires a huge amount of sacrifice. But when I come home from a bad day’s training and see my baby smiling and chuckling, it puts it all into perspective.”
Amber shares that she let “fate take hold” when she started attempting for a child along with her husband James, realizing the Olympics had been getting nearer and nearer. “It was something we really wanted – when we were trying, I was counting down the months of how close we could really get until I had to choose between becoming a mum or putting that on hold and going to the Olympics,” she says.
However ultimately, Tommy arrived in Might 2024. “I always felt that if I could give myself a good few months, I believed I could get back into training,” she says. “I always believed I can give it a really, really good shot – and I can do everything. And that’s exactly what I did.”
Albert Perez
