Olympic moms, dads and their kids take center stage at the Milan Cortina Games

MILAN (AP) — When Francesca Lollobrigida collected Italy's first gold medal of the Milan Cortina Olympics this week, the speedskater immediately looked for her 2-year-old son, Tommaso, so they could celebrate together. She found him but was told he wasn't allowed to go over to where she was after winning the 3,000 meters.

“So I said, ‘Fine. I’ll go to him,’” Lollobrigida said. She sprinted over to Tommaso and enveloped him in a big hug; soon, he was shushing his mother while in her arms during TV interviews.

“Aside from doing this for me, I did it for him, so one day he will be proud of me. Not just for being an Olympic champion, but for all of the journey we’ve lived together," explained Lollobrigida, who added another gold in the 5,000 on Thursday. “The message I wanted to show is that I didn’t choose between being an athlete and being a mom.”

Yes, mothers and fathers are part of the fabric of these Olympics, and so, too, are their children who've tagged along. The 232-athlete U.S. roster, for example, included nine moms — up from just one at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics and from four at Beijing in 2022 — and 17 dads.

Some see the trend of more mothers as a reflection of changing attitudes about women balancing parenthood with careers. It's commonplace across society at large over decades in many places but only recently in the sports world.

Amber Donaldson, Vice President of Sports Medicine at the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, called it a “cultural shift.”

“This isn’t a moment; it’s a movement for female athletes,” she said.

This is the first Winter Olympics since Donaldson, who joined the USOPC from the WTA women's tennis tour, started a women's health task force in 2022.

“Half our population are female athletes at almost every Games. And they get the majority of the medals. They’re more injured. They’re more ill. They have more time-loss injuries,” she said. “But across the board, they’re still performing really well. I said: If we can figure out why, and keep them healthy, then watch out.”

Part of those efforts involve policies to help mothers, or would-be mothers, by providing information about and funding for fertility treatments not covered by insurance, working to make pre-natal vitamins allowed under anti-doping rules, updating lactation spaces or places for athletes' children to hang out at training facilities.

In sum, Donaldson said, “To support our women in not having to make a choice” between sports and raising a family.

In Italy, the USOPC found a company that will rent strollers and car seats to the U.S. team's mothers and fathers.

The International Olympic Committee did not provide nurseries at the spread-out events in Italy for youngsters, the way it did at the Paris Summer Games two years ago, and invariably, some athlete's child is making an appearance at a venue, maybe even stealing the spotlight.

They're as little as 1-year-old River, the son of Swiss curlers Yannick Schwaller and Briar Schwaller-Hürlimann of Switzerland — the kid dubbed the “Curling Baby” for toting a broom twice his size — or as grown as 18-year-old Lasse Gaxiola, 18, who is a competitor himself, scheduled to race Saturday for Mexico in Alpine skiing’s giant slalom. His mother, Sarah Schleper, finished 26th in that sport’s super-G on Thursday.

“It’s kind of like my side gig is the ski racing,” said Schleper, 46, “which I’m so thankful I can still do.”

River is hardly alone at the curling. Canadian couple Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant have their son, Luke, 2, with them. The Peterson sisters from the U.S., Tara (son Eddie, born in September 2024) and Tabitha (daughter Noelle, born two months later) brought their children, too.

“You only have so many hours to dedicate to curling. The rest, I want to be a mother. I also have a day job as well — I’m a dentist — so there’s just a lot of things that we need to balance,” Tara Peterson said. “As for competition, it just makes it that much more sweet when ... you make the big shot, you win the big game, you look over, and there’s a little baby screaming, ‘Mama! Mama!’"

Nick Baumgartner, a U.S. snowboardcross rider who won a gold in Beijing, is at his fifth Olympics, and second with his son, Michigan State student Landon, on-site.

“I just race different when my son’s at the bottom of the course,” Baumgartner said. “Look out! Dad’s coming down!”

Faye Thelen, who was scheduled to compete in snowboard cross Friday, is at her fifth Games, and first as a mother of two, who are with her.

“I wasn’t going to leave them back in Utah with my husband or any other childcare,” Thelen said. “I have this image in my head that they're going to be down there and I'm going to win gold and I'm going to cry.”

She was fully prepared for the reality to not match the dream.

“My daughter is 7 months old and she doesn’t even know that she exists at this point,” Thelen said with a laugh. “I guarantee my son’s going to have his head in the snow. … It probably won't look that magical, but to me, it will be."

There are, to be sure, plenty of challenges for parents of little ones. U.S. bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor travels the World Cup circuit with her two sons — one is 5, the other 3 — and brought them to Italy. Both children are deaf; one has Down syndrome.

“I thought doing this with one kid was crazy. Doing it with two is just — I think I’m just a glutton for punishment, because this is just insane,” Meyers Taylor said. “It’s just chaos all the time. Like, getting to the starting line most weeks is a huge accomplishment.”

The IOC doesn't track data about how many parents are at an Olympics.

According to the Italian National Olympic Committee, the only mother on its squad is Lollobrigida, a 2022 silver medalist who initially figured she wouldn't return to speedskating after giving birth in May 2023. Upon her return, she recalled, Italy's speedskating coach, Maurizio Marchetto, told Lollobrigida: “OK, I never had to train a mom, but we can do it together.”

And they did — with help, of course. Lollobrigida spoke about needing a support team, including her husband and sister, especially while she spends more than 250 days a year on the road.

“It’s not easy. It’s not, ‘Wow!’ like this," she said, and snapped her fingers. “There are more low moments than high ones.”

Still, Lollobrigida pointed out that the best results of her career — the pair of Olympic golds in Milan and a world title last year — arrived after she became a parent.

“You can be a mom,” she said, “and come back to be much stronger.”

AP National Writer Eddie Pells in Livigno; Associated Press writer Julia Frankel and AP Sports Writers Andrew Dampf, Steve Douglas and Tim Reynolds in Cortina d’Ampezzo; AP Sports Writer Pat Graham in Bormio; and AP Sports Writers Graham Dunbar and John Wawrow in Milan contributed.

AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Francesca Lollobrigida of Italy celebrates winning the gold medal in the women's 5,000 meters speedskating race at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

FILE - Sarah Schleper holds her son Lasse as she skies down the course during an alpine ski, women's World Cup slalom, in Lienz, Austria, Thursday, Dec. 29, 2011. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta, File)

United States' Faye Thelen practices during a snowboard cross training session at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy, Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Switzerland's Yannick Schwaller and Briar Schwaller-Huerlimann interact with their child after the mixed doubles round robin phase of the curling competition against Canada, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)

Francesca Lollobrigida of Italy celebrates with her son Tommaso after winning the gold medal in the women's 3,000 meters speedskating race at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) — The Court of Arbitration for Sport heard the appeal of Ukrainian skeleton athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych surrounding his disqualification from the Milan Cortina Games on Friday, though the slider knows he won't be competing in these Olympics even if he wins his case.

“Looks like this train has left,” Heraskevych said in Milan on Friday.

His appeal lasted for about 2 1/2 hours and Heraskevych, draped in a Ukrainian flag, left the hearing smiling and saying he believes that CAS will rule in his favor. But he has left Cortina d'Ampezzo's Olympic Village already, has no plans to return to the mountains during these games and still believes he did the right thing.

“From Day 1, I told you that I think I'm right,” Heraskevych said. “I don't have any regrets.”

Meanwhile, his disqualification was justified because he insisted on bringing his messaging — a tribute helmet — onto the field of play, reiterated International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry.

Heraskevych planned to wear a helmet displaying the images of more than 20 Ukrainian athletes and coaches who have been killed since Russia invaded their country in 2022 was not in violation of the Olympic Charter.

“I never expected it to be such a big scandal,” Heraskevych said, adding that the story only became big when the IOC, in his opinion, decided he could not wear what he calls “the memory helmet.”

Speaking in Milan, a day after she visited with Heraskevych in Cortina d'Ampezzo moments before he was told that he could not participate in his Olympic race, Coventry repeated what the IOC has been pointing to for several days about the need to control how messages from athletes can be shared with the world.

“I think that he in some ways understood that but was very committed to his beliefs, which I can respect,” Coventry said. “But sadly, it doesn't change the rules.”

Coventry was moved to tears on Thursday after the meeting with Heraskevych and his father. (“I respect her feelings. She respects my feelings,” Heraskevych said.) But the Ukrainian slider also said he found his accreditation for the games being taken away, then returned in what seemed like a goodwill gesture, was puzzling.

“A mockery,” he said.

Heraskevych has already missed the first two runs of his competition, with the final two runs set to take place on Friday evening — so there never was a possibility for him to get into the race after missing his first run.

IOC spokesman Mark Adams said he believes the CAS ruling will come quickly, but neither he nor Coventry would speculate what happens if Heraskevych wins his appeal.

CAS director general Matthieu Reeb said the tribunal will try to render its decision quickly.

Heraskevych said he felt his disqualification was unfair and fed into Russian propaganda, noting that he and other Ukrainian athletes have seen Russian flags at events at these games — even though they are not allowed.

He cited other tributes from these Olympics, such as a U.S. figure skater displaying a photo of his late parents — killed in a plane crash last year — along with an Italian snowboard competitor having a small Russian flag image on the back of his helmet during these games and an Israeli skeleton athlete wearing a kippah with the names of the 11 people who were killed representing that country during the 1972 Munich Games.

The IOC said each of those cases were not in violation of any rules or the Olympic Charter.

U.S. figure skater Maxim Naumov showed the photo of his parents — former pairs world champions Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov — in the kiss-and-cry area after his skate in Milan on Tuesday night, and not while he was actually on the ice. Roland Fischnaller, the Italian snowboarder, had the flags of all countries where he participated in past Olympics — which included Russia, the Winter Games' host in 2014, on his helmet. Jared Firestone, the skeleton athlete, wore his kippah but “it was covered by a beanie,” Adams said.

The IOC offered Heraskevych the chance to bring his helmet through the interview area, called a mixed zone, after he got off the ice for his runs or make other tributes such as wearing a black armband. It just didn't want him making a statement by competing in the helmet, or wearing it on the field of play.

“I think it's the wrong side of history for the IOC,” Heraskevych said.

AP journalists Annie Risemberg and Stefanie Dazio in Milan contributed to this story.

AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Ukrainian skeleton athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych holds his crash helmet as he stands outside the sliding center at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Ukrainian skeleton athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych holds his crash helmet as he stands in the mixed zone of the sliding center at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Ukrainian skeleton athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych speaks to the media as he arrives for a CAS appeal hearing in Milan, Italy, Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)