Robyn Stevens - US Racewalk

On this first day of celebrating ‘National Girls and Women in Sports’ week (though we are here and celebrate 24/7, 365 ♾️), I want to applaud 👏 and the numerous athlete moms, may be moms, and may have been moms for the progress we continue TOGETHER to 💛✨

Happy and honored to join the ambassadors of and in support of our collective mission for FairPlay AND a level playing field (which is also our work).

I’m 41 and during my prime pregnancy years there were too many risks and roadblocks in regards to what options exist (or don’t exist) for athlete-moms and athletes during our prime in sport coinciding with comfortably planning for motherhood during what is also our prime years for pregnancy—for me their were and still are huge risks as a female athlete to trust I can provide a stable financial base for supporting my kids through the costs of meeting basic needs as well as provide opportunities for them to explore their dreams and talents.

Not all Olympians and events in the Olympics are offered equality in financial support and access to healthcare—even among women athletes we are not treated with equality for our merit of what it takes to become an Olympian, which only 0.000001% of the world population achieve (that’s less Olympians worldwide than we have billionaires and millionaires) and most of us barely make enough to cover our own basic needs to have the privilege to consider motherhood for ourselves.

Freezing our eggs while we’re in our prime years on the competitive circuit as athletes is an extremely costly option and has its own additional risks (data breech and in general reliably safe—and trustworthy—storage).

To all the STRONG 💪 women out there, I see you, I hear you, I’m with you, let’s keep uplifting each other and moving forward TOGETHER.

Happy ‘National Girls and Women in Sports’ Day!

I have so much gratitude for the STRONG 💪 women who inspired (and STILL INSPIRE) me daily! My mom Carolyn , all my grandmothers and my Great Aunt, my sister , long-time mentors Claudia Wilde and Susan Armenta , Cynthia De LaCruz , my bestie Ashley , and women in sport heroes during my early years as a youth: Nadia Comaneci 🇷🇴 🤸 🔟 , Susan Armenta (before she became a mentor, coach and friend) 🇺🇸 👣 🏆 , Peggy Fleming ⛸️, Marla Runyan 🏃‍♀️, Joan Benoit 🏃‍♀️, and the “Sugar Plum Nut” Yanina Cywinska 🇵🇱🩰 📕 📖 ; and women sport heroes who inspire me in the race walk event: Maria Perez 🇪🇸 👣 🏆 and Laura Garcia 🇪🇸 👣 ✨, and Paralympian 🇺🇸 🏊‍♀️ ; To the additional women who didn’t know they were inspiring me to push the envelope during my early years of competing: Wanda of West Wind Flyers and Maria Rousso (whom I never met and I don’t know who she is or what she is doing now but I saw her and her brother’s name in the event programs often, which inspired me to be mindful of what I do with Sport during and after U18 years) 🫶

And cheers to the billions more empowering women—one of whom I hope to call President someday. 💛

✨


Photo cr: Jonathan Su , my physical therapist and friend

My coach, Jacinto Garzon 🇪🇸 ( ), deserves a post of his own.

Jacinto is among the BEST coaches in the world and it’s not expressed regularly enough how grateful I am for his supportive guidance and his reliable IMPECCABLE training expertise. He doesn’t stop at being a great coach, he is also a remarkable human being, friend, teacher, and contributor to the sport and event through expertise and community service.

❤️✨ With Jacinto, Athlete health and overall wellbeing come first and foremost. Strong results are the result.

Specifically for me I can attribute the following to the help of Jacinto:

⬆️ [Scroll through photo carousel]

THANK YOU 🦁🐂🐂🐂 ❤️✨

Un León Maestro de Toros 🌟

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🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Photo credits and extended acknowledgments:

There’s so much I love about this photo. Olympic Trials 🥇 champion title defended successfully ✅☺️.

Compositionally, the photographer captures so much—seen and unseen, obvious and subliminally.

Thank you for this snapshot 🥹🤗

A BIG VIRTUAL HUG to the City of Springfield, Oregon, for your cheer and another fantastic Olympic Trials on this gem of a course (down to each detail and good memories created here). 💚✨🌟

NEW AMERICAN RECORD 🚨 ✨
3:12:53 (Nick Christie & Robyn Stevens)
Mixed Marathon Relay

THANK YOU, , for a wonderfully hosted World Team Championship that doubled as our World’s first ever Olympic Game selection event for the exciting new event of Mixed Marathon Relay. 💛

New history had its start in Antalya last week and I am overflowing with gratitude to be alive and part of it.

April 21, the road was smooth and the 2km course delightful even in a slightly warm temperature. I can’t say the road getting there and afterward are smooth but on that day, a disjointed TeamUSA race walk squad came together in Unity and supported one another in synergistic team spirit—demonstrating how beautifully powerful a relay event can be 💝.

I didn’t know what to expect other than for it to be an experience that bests any previous performance by our squad.

We had the most perfect Staff for the race walks in the history of teams I have been on, the location absolutely gorgeous, food and other needs plentiful, and key people in my life present on location—my Dad, long-time mentors Susan Armenta and Ron Daniel, my coach Jacinto and Spanish squad of Spanish pizzazz. My Mom and Claudia were VERY present in spirit 🤗 🇹🇷 ✨

Nick and I, 🇺🇸 Team 1, placed 41st overall and 26th for Paris Games selection (Top 22 go, so we came up short)…but if it weren’t for ongoing sport manipulation we possibly would have squeezed in.
🙄🤨🤷‍♀️

I walked close to 2’ faster than my previous aggregate with a 1:36:48 total. Splits - 47:38/49:10.
Fastest Aggregate 🇺🇸 ✅ (SB)

I owe our medical staff Erika and Ena a BIG HUG for keeping my back from entirely stiffening up between legs, otherwise my second leg may not have gone as smoothly 😅.

Natos and Celina Corvera who were 🇺🇸 Team 3 successfully finished second for USA. Jordan Crawford 🇺🇸 Team 2 battled heat stroke and survives 💪 Whew!

Amy Begley, Susan Armenta and Lauryn Williams ARE rockstar support staff along the course! 🫶

Thank you for a wonderful (possibly last) World Team Championships for me. 🥹