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Olympic Silver Medalist reveals she was pregnant during Tokyo 2020
Published 12:14 7 Oct 2021 BST
Homewomen in sport
It makes the achievement even more impressive than it already was
Olympic silver medalist Elinor Barker has revealed that she is expecting her first child and that she was pregnant during the recent Tokyo Olympics. Barker, 27, was part of Great Britain's women's team pursuit squad that came second and achieved a silver medal in Japan and took to social media to break the news on Twitter saying: "Casper and I are excited to announce that we are expecting our first child! "We can’t believe how lucky we are and we're so excited to start the next part of our lives together." https://twitter.com/elinorbarker/status/1445413891312394243?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1445413891312394243%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.co.uk%2Fsport%2Fcycling%2F58810922 She then added on Instagram to confirm she had been pregnant during the Olympics saying: "yep, I was pregnant at the Tokyo Olympics." The Cardiff-born cyclist rode in the qualifying rounds as Britain came second only to a Germany squad who managed to set a world record in the final. Barker's news comes after she revealed in 2019 that she suffered from endometriosis, a condition which causes pain, heavy periods and fatigue. Barker said that the condition almost forced her to quit the sport entirely but after having a successful operation, she made a recovery and was able to be a part of the squad. Not long before she was diagnosed with the condition, she had been a part of the gold medal-winning squad at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics back in 2016 alongside Laura Kenny (then Trott), Katie Archibald and Joanna Rowsell. The good news though keeps coming for Barker after road cycling team Uno-X announced that she will join up with the squad for the next two seasons after her pregnancy. Related links:Explore more on these topics:
