Cátia Azevedo dismissed by Sporting after being a mother: “He passed me the same”

Ain Cabecinha was abandoned by sponsors during pregnancy, with the former marcher lamenting that sportspeople in Portugal still have to choose between career and motherhood, by which they continue to be discriminated against.

Despite trying to stay away from “confusions”, five times the Olympics failed to remain indifferent to the case of Cátia Azevedo, dismissed by Sporting months after being a mother.

“ You gave me the same twice. The first was in 2021, when I got pregnant, but unfortunately I lost the baby after three months. [...] As soon as I knew I was pregnant, I reported [...], and of course there were sponsors who said that, knowing this situation, they would not support me, because I would be standing still and would not give visibility to the brands. And they walked away”, he revealed, in an interview with the agency Lusa.

When they heard of her loss, they contacted her again, with Heady accepting the return of the sponsors, in “disagreement” with the husband and coach, who they thought should not accept.

“ But I needed to, because I wanted to keep my career and needed these sponsorships”, justifies the flagship of the Portuguese Mission in the Opening Ceremony of Paris2024, preferring not to reveal their names, but indicating that they are sports brands.

The story was repeated in 2024, when, only after “many months”, she reported that she was again pregnant.

“I lost them again. And when it was announced that it was going to be the flagship, they sent me an e-mail [to say] that they would be happy for me to continue in the Games with the brand. And I didn't actually say yes or no. They sent the material, but I didn't take the [Olympic] test with him. In that year when I was pregnant, in which I trained all year to be in the Games, they abandoned me ", avenged.

Fortunately, she notes three times an Olympic graduate, her club never left her and the “municiple of Olhão honored the contract until the end”, and she also relied on the unconditional support of the Olympic Committee of Portugal, namely the then President José Manuel Constantino, and the Portuguese Federation of Athletics, which made her preparation for Paris2024.

“ Our job is to be professional athletes, because you can't reconcile both. If we're being mothers, athletes and then we lose that support from behind, where do we hang on? Because just living off athletics, jock scholarship, it's complicated. We need the support of the club, the support of the sponsors, and if they start leaving us, it gets very complicated, then demand results ", defended.

According to the former marcher, this ‘desertion’ of support does not happen in other countries.

“In Portugal, we have to choose: either we are going to be mothers or our career goes on for more years. That's what happened to me. I've extended too long. I lost a baby, I wanted to keep going, and then when I was a mother, I was a late mother, and it was a very complicated pregnancy. And I don’t think I have any more”, he said.

For Cabecinha, it is sad that the athletes who want to be mothers continue to be discriminated against, evoking the examples of athletes such as Sara Moreira, Dulce Félix and Jessica Augusto, pioneers who demonstrated a decade ago that one can “come back much better” and that they were not abandoned by clubs or sponsors.

“ There had to be a law to safeguard us, women athletes, all sports. Because if not, we still have to give up, and we still have to postpone our dream of motherhood to later and later, when it should not be allowed. We are preventing the woman from having the dream of being a mother earlier, to be able to continue, because it weighs a lot on maintaining her career ", lamented.

Today, he regrets “much of not having been a mother earlier”, namely not having listened to his husband in 2016, when he suggested that he make a career stop to be parents.

“ As it had been Friday at the Games [Rio2016], I was in that euphoria of wanting to fight to win a medal in Tokyo[2020], and my batteries were there. He understood, he stood by me, of course, and we postponed. It was the first time we talked about motherhood, and I didn’t know it, and my fear was so much that I couldn’t get back...”, he said, regretting that his father never realized the dream of meeting his grandson.

Cabecinha is pleased to have overcome all adversities to reach Paris2024, where he completed his Olympic career with his son Lourenço as a spectator.

“ It was very nice. It was the best way to end it. I could have gone on, because the club, the county, told me to do four more years, but I don't think it was worth it, because I wanted to see my son grow up. I didn’t want to postpone and watch my son grow up with internships and travel, and then it was better like this, it was the best decision,” he said.