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Alysia Montaño
Photo Credit: Josh Glazerbrook
Courageously Advocating for Mom Athletes
Alysia Montaño has become one of the most influential voices fighting for equity in sports for mom athletes – challenging outdated norms, confronting systemic barriers and driving policy changes to ensure women can compete at the highest level while raising a family. The Women’s Sports Foundation is proud to honor Montaño’s transformative impact with this year’s Wilma Rudolph Courage Award, celebrating her bold leadership and unwavering commitment to empowering mom athletes to stay in the game.
Montaño is a seven-time national champion in Track & Field and an Olympic bronze medalist, who since high school has been known for her fearless front-running style and the signature flower she wore in her hair while racing – symbols of strength and femininity coexisting. She competed for the University of California, Berkeley, where she earned All-American honors and a degree in Theater and Performing Arts, developing the voice and presence that would later make her a force beyond sports. Though a foot injury sidelined her from competing at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, she rebounded to medal for Team USA at the 2012 London Games, establishing herself as one of the nation’s top middle-distance runners.
But Montaño’s most defining moments came a few years later. In 2014, she made global headlines when she competed at the U.S. Track and Field Championships while eight months pregnant with her first child – an act that redefined visibility for mom athletes. The image of her racing with her baby bump became an enduring symbol of resilience, sparking conversations around pregnancy, performance, and perception in elite athletics. Behind the scenes, however, Montaño faced pressure from sponsors and the loss of contract support, consequences that exposed the harsh realities faced by women athletes who choose to start a family.
Refusing to accept the status quo, Montaño spoke out. In a 2019 opinion article published in The New York Times, she detailed how her pregnancy had led to the quiet disappearance of her sponsorship deal, helping to ignite a nationwide conversation about the lack of maternity protections for professional women athletes. Her voice emboldened mothers to come forward with their own stories of adversity in professional sports and beyond, and helped drive public accountability and push companies toward long-overdue policy change.
Determined to turn advocacy into sustainable impact, Montaño co-founded For All Mothers+ (formerly known as &Mother), a nonprofit dedicated to eliminating the motherhood penalty by breaking down barriers that prevent women from thriving as professionals in the sports industry and mothers. What began as a movement for athlete moms has grown into a broader effort to support all mothers through research, workplace policy reform, and community-driven solutions that make it possible for women to pursue their goals without having to choose between career and family caregiving.
Now a proud mother of three, Montaño has retired from competitive racing, but her commitment to creating space for future generations to pursue their dreams without compromise remains unwavering. Her courage – on the track, in the media, and through her ongoing activism – has paved the way for women athletes to embrace their ambitions. Her leadership has helped shift the culture of sport to better reflect the lives of women everywhere.
In the spirit of Wilma Rudolph, Montaño continues to run toward change and bring others with her every step of the way.
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