As we celebrate Mother’s Day, Australian Athletics looks at two of our athletes who have come back to achieve success on the field after becoming a mother.
BROOKE BUSCHKUEHL
Just nine months after Brooke Buschkuehl gave birth to a baby boy Bobby, she was back on top of the podium winning the Australian Athletics Championships long jump competition.
The emotions she felt on that day in Sydney last month were something she will never forget, and she will reflect on that today, her first ever Mother’s Day as a mum.
“It’s pretty hard to describe,” Bushkuehl said of winning in Sydney.
“It was one thing to get back competing, but I think to be back jumping a distance I hadn’t seen on the tape measure for a little while made it even more special.
“To have Nathan and Bobby in the crowd watching, just made it so worthwhile.
“All those hard days and sleepless nights, it makes it so worthwhile.”
Buschkuehl always wanted to return to competing soon after giving birth, slowly starting training at the Victorian Institute of Sport in Melbourne seven weeks after Bobby was born.
“Seeing so many Australian female athletes return to sport after having babies including Gen Gregson, Jess Stenson, Eloise Wellings and Vanessa Low, it showed me what’s possible, “ she said.
“I definitely didn’t realise how hard it was going to be, but I think knowing other women have done it and come back better athletes, gave me a lot of motivation to want to give it a go myself.”
One promise she made to herself was to have Bobby by her side watching her compete, and that has made all the success that has come even more special.
Bobby has been a smiling regular watching his mum compete over the Australian summer season.
It also has given her perspective on what is important.
“I think having Bobby there at competitions just makes me realise there is more to life than sport,” she said.
Buschkuehl will now focus on next week’s Oceania Athletics Championships in 2026, and she is aiming for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow later in the year.
“Being an athlete there are always highs and lows, so seeing where I started and how far I’ve come in such a short period of time, it’s something to be proud of,” she said.
Buschkuehl, who is a Little Athletics Hall of Fame member, will spend Mother’s Day catching up with her own mother and family, who has been incredibly supportive as she continues to jump to inspire.
VANESSA LOW
Looking back on the Paris Paralympics in 2024, champion T63 jumper Vanessa Low (ACT), had a moment just before her event that winning another gold medal wasn’t everything.
She had her baby boy Matteo, now 3, by her side.
“When I lined up at the Paris Paralympics for my first jump, I realised it didn’t matter what I jumped in that competition. Matteo was going to look up to me exactly the same way, whatever happened, whatever the result,” she said.
“He had fun on that day and the journey getting there.
“Matteo wouldn’t have cared less if I was on the podium, or not on the podium at all.
“It really put in perspective what did matter.
In the end it was another magical moment for Low, her second gold medal at the Paralympics.
It is perspective that is the key words as Low celebrates another Mother’s Day today with Matteo and husband Scott Reardon.
Just two years earlier before the Paralympics, she was prepared to say goodbye to competing at International level, after achieving everything she had wanted to.
“I said to myself, if I hadn’t slept for six months I was done with the sport, and it was OK.
“But I found I was really keen to come back.”
It didn’t take long for Low to achieve success after making that decision, she won a bronze medal at the World Para Athletics World Championships in Paris in 2023.
The most important thing on any day for her, including Mother’s Day, is to show up and be the best version of herself for Matteo.
“I celebrate the way I show up in training, because that’s what he notices,” she said.
“That’s the effort I really put in and that’s the thing he will remember in 10 years time.”
By Luke Dennehy, Australian Athletics
Posted 10/5/2026
