Azerbaijan archer Yaylagul Ramazanova is one of the athletes who defied the odds at the 2024 Paris Olympics. The 35-year-old won hearts over the world as he competed at the sporting extravaganza despite being six-and-a-half-months pregnant. In an Instagram post, the Azerbaijani archer can be seen rocking a white outfit as she aimed for her targets. One of the pictures featured a quote in which she talked about her experience of competing at the event with a bloated belly. “I felt my baby kick me before I shot this last arrow and then I shot a 10,” read the quote.
Ramazanova’s display of sportsmanship has now sparked reactions from fans in the comments section. One of them wrote, “This is awesome. Much respect for all pregnant women. I’m a nurse and work with women who run around 12-13 hours and are weeks from giving birth. Superheroes dude. They don’t get the recognition they deserve.”
Another made a request, saying, “Pls someone make a mini medal to be awarded to the baby at birth.”
One said, “First baby to compete in the Olympics.”
“The strength and power of Azerbaijani women,” read another response.
One Instagram user commented, “The proud posture of an Azerbaijani woman. Pride!!!”
Ramazanova is only the second archer in Azerbaijan’s history to compete at the Olympics. The first-ever archer from the nation to achieve this feat was Olga Senyuk at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Ramazanova participated in the women’s individual recurve archery event in Paris. She pulled off a huge upset against a 28-ranked Chinese archer An Qixuan in the 1/32 elimination round. The Azerbaijan archer was later eliminated from the 1/16 round by Germany’s Michelle Kroppen.
Ramazanova also spoke about her pregnancy journey as an Olympian to the Chinese publication Xinhua. “During the training for the Olympics, I didn’t feel uncomfortable with my pregnancy. Instead, I felt that I was not fighting alone, but fighting together with my baby… I will teach my kid archery if he or she is interested in it,” she said.
The 127-ranked Ramazanova is not the only pregnant athlete who competed in Paris this year. Egypt’s 26-year-old fencer Nada Hafez had participated at the Paris Olympics being seven months pregnant. She managed to win her first-round match of the women’s sabre competition, where she beat USA’s former NCAA Champion Elizabeth Tartakovsky.
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Read More: ‘Felt My Baby Kick:’ Pregnant Archer Yaylagul Ramazanova’s Big Revelation At Paris Olympics
