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Allyson Felix and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce on motherhood, sexism and postponed Olympic Games
"It is a feeling you can't explain unless you experience it. You talk about it but it's wilder and more crazy than that."
This is how two-time Olympic 100m champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce describes standing on top of the podium.
But these words could equally describe one of the other great achievements of her life: motherhood.
The 34-year-old Jamaican won her fourth world 100m title in 2019 after two years away from the sport to have her son Zyon.
Fraser-Pryce is now aiming for more Olympic glory in Tokyo and she is not the only athlete balancing training with parenting duties.
Alongside six-time Olympic champion Allyson Felix, Fraser-Pryce discussed motherhood, gender disparities in athletics and living with the postponement of the Tokyo Games in an episode of BBC podcast The Conversation.
Here are some of the best bits of the wisdom they shared.
'I can't remember a time when I just had to train' - on motherhood
American Felix, 35, became the most successful athlete in World Championships history in 2019 when she took two relay golds in Doha but it was the 12 months beforehand that were the most life-changing.
In November 2018 Felix gave birth to her daughter Camryn by emergency Caesarean after discovering she had pre-eclampsia, which could have been life-threatening for them both.
Camryn came out of intensive care a month later but the following year Felix entered into another battle, taking on sponsor Nike over maternity pay.
In May 2019, she wrote in the New York Times that Nike wanted to pay her 70% less after she became a mother. Three months later, the brand changed their stance.
'The gap is closing but not fast enough' - on sexism
Felix has already moved things on for sportswomen who take time out to have children, but she says female and male athletes are "far from equal".
Both she and Fraser-Pryce acknowledge that there is extra pressure on sportswomen not only to perform, but to look good while they do it.
Felix also believes that closing the pay gap between female and male athletes is harder because speaking openly about how much someone earns is not the norm.
"We sometimes see the disparity in other ways," she adds. "I believe it is present but I think there is a lot of work to be done to get to a point where we can change that.
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