A Portuguese athlete who trained for the Olympic Games while pregnant is confident of a good result in the 20 km march.

At the start of the 20-kilometer march at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Portuguese athlete Ana Cabesinha will already know that the most coveted prize awaits her at the finish line, when she is reunited with her newborn son, a participant in the march admitted.

Ana Cabesinha, flag bearer of the Portuguese Mission, together with canoeist Fernando Pimenta, spoke to Lusa about the prospects she has for Paris 2024, during a training session held in Vila Real de Santo António, where she aims to recover her physical level as much as possible, after October was forced to reformulate all her medications when she discovered she was pregnant.

Despite training almost throughout her pregnancy and adapting all her training to her commitments to her son, born in early May, Ana Cabesinha knows she will not be fighting for big results or achievements, but she is looking at the 20km race from Paris in 2024 with an eye on the finish line, where her husband and child Lourenço will be waiting for her.

“This will be the biggest motivation to achieve the goal because my preparation was not ideal at all to achieve a great result. But I do it more motivated because I know that in the end I will get my medal. The year will be my son’s at the end, at the finish line,” he said.

The 40-year-old marcher took the news of her pregnancy with a mixture of “shock” and “enormous happiness” and has since had to prepare “completely differently” than planned in pre-season to enable him to compete for good results at the Games.

The athlete acknowledged that “it’s a huge task” caring for her son and reshaping all of her training to suit her needs, but stressed that she has a “calm baby” who “allows her to train” and is “supportive and supportive” which allows her to work “rested” knowing the newborn is “well taken care of.”

“But of course, during the training, I always hope that it will end and I will be able to be with my child,” she admitted, announcing that she will leave for the French capital on the 26th with her child and her husband, “who will stay with his son during the training and the race, although his entourage and family, who will also be in Paris, will guarantee him another “great support and great family support.”

Speaking about her choice as flag bearer for the Portuguese delegation alongside Fernando Pimenta, Ana Cabesinha said it was a “dream come true” that would allow her to crown her fifth Olympic appearance with the “wonderful part” of raising the Portuguese flag at the opening ceremony of Paris 2024, where it will travel 20 kilometres without much pressure on August 1.

“But at the moment the result is the least. The fifth Olympic Games are ending differently, without pressure, and for the first time I think I will enjoy the Olympic Games in this way, because other Games were clear to fight for the best result, for big places and big brands, and this year it is not the main goal,” he explained.

Paulo Murta, Ana Cabecinha’s coach, explained that since the athlete’s pregnancy was known, “everything was different” and it was necessary to adapt the prenatal training with a team of physiologists, which allowed her to work almost until the birth of the child, but also in the postnatal period, without the usual training at altitude and ensuring a speedy recovery from the caesarean section performed just two months ago.

“Ana is well prepared, but not optimally, it’s unthinkable to think that Ana will break her personal best, or reach the final, or go in the top twenty. [primeiras]”We have to be realistic, but we want Ana to have a worthy participation, worthy of her story,” said Paulo Murta.

The marcher, who is set to make her fifth Olympic appearance at the Games, which run from July 26 to August 11, has won diplomas in three of her four previous appearances: she placed sixth at Rio 2016 and eighth at London 2012 and Beijing 2008, finishing 20th at Tokyo 2020.