It’s the flower you see first – a huge white plastic chrysanthemum attached to the side of her towering bun. I’m sitting on the rooftop of LA’s Petit Ermitage hotel and Alysia Montaño, 33, runs over and goes in for a bosomy hug like a long-lost friend, before plonking herself down and ordering a burger with curly fries. She’s a tour de force at five months pregnant with her third child, and it’s immediately clear why she was a formidable opponent to Nike and Asics – the billion-dollar companies who she outed in May for their poor support of female athletes.
‘I always wear the flower,’ says the six-time US Outdoor Champion, who in 2014 ran an 800m race at eight months pregnant. ‘It’s to assert my femininity in what is a man’s world.’
And she truly has asserted herself. Some might say Alysia risked everything by breaking her Asics and Nike non-disclosure agreements when she accused them of systemic discrimination against female athletes in an article in The New York Times.
‘I had no choice,’ she says. ‘I couldn’t keep smiling for the camera and being the face of gender equality, while fighting behind the scenes to keep my pay check for getting pregnant. I’d choose losing my security over living a lie.
The crunch point came when she had left her sponsorship deal with Nike after they said they wouldn’t pay her if she had a baby. ‘I asked them what would happen if I got pregnant, and the answer was a very casual, “Oh, we’ll just pause your contract and stop paying you until you return.” I was shocked and I remember thinking, “I’ve got to get out of here,”’ she says. ‘I moved to Asics and they loved marketing “the pregnant runner” – until they didn’t.’
'We run because we have mouths to feed. We run because we can’t afford to stand still.'
Asics cut her contract by 50% when her performance decreased. ‘My performance was always going to be affected because I was pregnant,’ says Alysia. While Asics made the reduction after she had her first baby, there was no acknowledgement that pregnancy would impact performance.
Sleep-deprived, heavily pregnant and fearing what the future would hold if she broke her silence, Alysia also lost her health insurance before the baby was due. ‘That was my point of no return. I had nothing to lose because I’d already lost everything.’
The United States Olympic Committee determines if an athlete has health insurance, but that depends on performance. The USOC has subsequently released this statement: ‘Pregnancy or needing a break from competition for other important reasons can’t unfairly impact eligibility and we’re working to make that clear to everyone.’ But Alysia feels this doesn’t come close to preventing maternity discrimination.
‘My gender, my biology meant I couldn’t perform as well [while pregnant],’ she says. ‘I wasn’t running at eight months pregnant for attention, I was running because I needed that health insurance to care for my unborn child. We run because we have mouths to feed. We run because we can’t afford to stand still. There’s no choice but to run. But at what cost?’
When Nike released a global campaign promoting gender equality – starring Serena Williams, who’d just given birth – it was the last straw for Alysia. She called The New York Times to have her say, along with Nike athletes Kara Goucher and Phoebe Wright. Alysia’s mood becomes more sombre as she explains that Kara had scheduled a half-marathon three months after her son Colt was born. Her son became dangerously ill in that time and she had to make this choice: be there for her baby or prepare for the race that might pay for his health insurance. Kara told The New York Times that she’ll never forgive herself for leaving Colt in hospital while she trained three months postpartum.
‘There’s so much brokenness behind the scenes,’ says Alysia. ‘Being pregnant is the kiss of death for your career, and it’s all masked by empowering messages telling you there are no limits to your potential.’
'Being pregnant is the kiss of death for your career.'
The athletes knew that standing up to Nike would have huge implications for them. ‘Who wants to employ the woman calling out this shitty behaviour? Who would want to risk it?’ Although Nike acknowledged sponsored athletes have had their payments reduced because of pregnancy, the £19bn company stressed it changed its approach in 2018 so that athletes are no longer penalised. It will now guarantee an athlete’s pay, and bonuses cannot be docked eight months before due date and 10 months post-birth. Asics says its policy is to pay its sponsored athletes in full during pregnancy and after childbirth.
While Nike has not communicated with Alysia, outdoor company Burton has been in touch after announcing that it changed all female athletic contracts to include language that protects women during and after pregnancy. This, Alysia says, is a huge step and she’s been in talks with Nuun Hydration about her foundation, launching in 2020, which will support women discriminated against in the sporting industry. She’s also found a new sponsor: maternity activewear brand Cadenshae.
Does she regret speaking up? ‘Never,’ she says. ‘I wouldn’t have been able to look my daughter in the eye if I hadn’t. I won’t stop until the gross discrimination of female athletes ends. This is my career now; I’m running a new race.’
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