Spanish Olympian Disappointed to Leave Breastfeeding Son at Home

U.S.|The Spanish swimmer Ona Carbonell says she is disappointed to permission her breastfeeding lad astatine home.

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The Spanish creator swimmer Ona Carbonell is expressing her “disappointment and disillusionment” that it is not applicable to bring her lad to Japan for the Tokyo Olympics portion she is breastfeeding him.

Carbonell said successful an Instagram video this week that she would not instrumentality her son, Kai, who is astir a twelvemonth old, to the Games. She said she had to take betwixt her household and her Olympic goals successful creator swimming, the athletics formerly known arsenic synchronized swimming.

“A fewer weeks ago, immoderate pistillate athletes started posting astir this connected societal media,” she said successful Spanish successful the video arsenic she breastfed her son. “The taxable was to take betwixt household and breastfeeding oregon to enactment successful the Olympic Games.”

“We were told this was not compatible,” she said.

At the extremity of June, the Tokyo organizing committee loosened a restriction connected bringing infants who are nursing to the Games. But the conditions imposed inactive made it hard for mothers, Carbonell said, due to the fact that children would person to enactment successful a edifice extracurricular of the Olympic confines and nether strict quarantine.

“They wouldn’t beryllium allowed to permission the edifice country during the 20-ish days I’d beryllium successful Tokyo,” Carbonell said. “For maine to spell and breastfeed Kai whenever helium needs it during the time I would person to permission the Olympic villa, the team’s bubble, and spell to their hotel, risking my team’s health.”

Carbonell, 31, is competing successful her 3rd Olympics. She won a metallic medal successful the duet contention and a bronze medal successful the squad contention successful London successful 2012, and placed 4th successful the duet contention successful Rio de Janeiro successful 2016.

In a connection accompanying the Instagram video, she said that portion she had received “countless expressions of enactment and encouragement to spell to Tokyo with Kai,” she “wanted to explicit my disappointment and disillusionment that I volition yet person to question without him.”

The International Olympic Committee did not instantly respond to a petition for remark astir her video.