Desafios da maternidade na corrida de aventura

Abstract

This research contributes to the theoretical debate on gender, sports, and motherhood in underexplored contexts such as adventure racing (AR). It investigates the challenges faced by mother-athletes, seeking to understand how they reconcile motherhood with a sporting career and the meanings they attribute to this experience. Grounded in Foucaultian theorization, the study examines how gendered “regimes of truth” shape expectations and naturalize roles both in sport and in family life. The approach is qualitative, and data were produced through narrative interviews with mother-athletes experienced in AR, who were encouraged to reveal the challenges, negotiations, and strategies used to maintain athletic performance while engaging in motherhood. Data interpretation was guided by the French line of Discourse Analysis. The results show that although AR is publicly associated with endurance, overcoming obstacles, and freedom, the experiences of these athletes are marked by constant negotiations between family demands and competitive requirements, with persistent gender asymmetries in the division of care and domestic labor. Nevertheless, motherhood also emerges as a space for self-reinvention and “practices of freedom,” enabling new forms of athletic identity, even under structural constraints.