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" I think you&amp;#039;ll agree that Noelle Pikus-Pace is an epic badass, right? The Olympic silver medalist in skeleton hurls herself chin first down an icy chute like she&amp;#039;s a Formula One racecar, despite the fact that she was almost shattered by a 1,600-pound runaway bobsled eight years ago. In fact, she went on to compete in not one, but two Olympics after that. Her doctors had to put a metal rod in her leg, so she&amp;#039;s literally made of titanium now. Say it with me. Epic. Badass. So why is the big news here that she&amp;#039;s a mom? It&amp;#039;s pretty much all you hear about when she&amp;#039;s on the screen. &amp;quot;Mother of Two&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;Fastest Mom on Ice,&amp;quot; the announcers say, as if she&amp;#039;s a live unicorn in our midst. Why aren&amp;#039;t they saying what we&amp;#039;re really thinking: &amp;quot;Holy crap, this sport is terrifying!&amp;quot; OK, so she&amp;#039;s an epic badass and a mom. Why is it so shocking when women who are moms are also able to do other things well?  Look, I get it. I gobbled up the stories at first, too \u2014 like  this one and  this one and  this one. Watching  profiles of her heroic journey to the podium, the AT&amp;amp;amp;T commercial where she kisses her kids goodnight and then rides the track into the darkness, I was stoked. My major hurdle is trying to get in a shower before I drop my 2-year-old off at preschool, not fitting in a training run and, you know, qualifying for the Olympics. The problem is that there&amp;#039;s still a double standard when it comes to coverage of moms and dads. Every time the Olympics roll around, the media coverage puts us through the same song and dance. You ooh and aah over swimmer  Dara Torres, soccer captain  Christie Rampone, volleyball winner  Kerri Walsh Jennings, and every other woman who happens to have given birth at least once. But curler John Shuster? Yeah, he&amp;#039;s just living his life. Silver-medal sprinter Tyson Gay? Born to be a champ. Another case in point:  Christian Niccum. Double luge athlete, 36 years old, father of three. Has anyone ever asked how he remembers to practice and pack the kids&amp;#039; lunches? No, because the assumption is that it isn&amp;#039;t his job. Luging is. He knows it&amp;#039;s more complicated than that. He worries whether the time away from his family was worth it. &amp;quot;Was it the right thing? I don&amp;#039;t know,&amp;quot; he told the Chicago Tribune about his kids, when asked what he&amp;#039;ll do in retirement \u2014 seemingly the only time male athletes have an opportunity to discuss their children. Mom picks up the slack at home while Dad pursues his dream? Comes with the territory.  &amp;quot;Stop talking and look around you!&amp;quot; I want to yell at my TV, which is both unhinged and unhelpful, but there it is. Because if these announcers bothered to take a look at what life actually looks like for parents in America right now, they&amp;#039;d see two pretty exciting and obvious things: the first is that women everywhere are successfully juggling a hell of a lot to be mothers and more than parents. The second is that dads are too. More and more women are becoming the breadwinners in their families, which means they are able to raise their kids and handle work that goes beyond child care. In the meantime, I see a lot of guys who are shaking things up at work in a big way so they can raise their kids. My friends&amp;#039; husbands give up travel to stay home, change up their hours in the office, and do school drop-offs and pick-ups. It wasn&amp;#039;t so long ago that many dads, mine included, were more traditional. In fact, I&amp;#039;m willing to bet that a lot of the guys who are dads today had no idea how hands-on they would be \u2014 and that they would want to be. But parenting is a huge part of their identities, not just something they fit in between hours at the office. All I&amp;#039;m saying is, let&amp;#039;s make this equal. From now on, Olympic moms and dads get the same treatment. No more zooming in on her adorable toddlers and his skis. It&amp;#039;s not like she made it to Sochi on baby&amp;#039;s kisses and breast milk and he made it on pure talent alone. If you want to talk to a female athlete about her kids, fine, but don&amp;#039;t make it her whole story. And if you talk to a male athlete who happens to be a dad, don&amp;#039;t overlook that aspect of his life. They&amp;#039;re both taking on the competition with the same superpower: focus. Whether you&amp;#039;re a man or a woman, a parent or not, you rise to the top by being able to focus. Want to land a Double McTwist 1260 in the halfpipe? Focus. Want to get mittens on your 18-month-old? Slightly harder, but yeah, focus. Maybe, just once, the news coverage can celebrate the woman on the podium, not the mom. Hey, Rio 2016: I&amp;#039;m looking at you. Related: 13 Badass Women to Watch at the Olympics Why It&amp;#039;s Okay to Objectify Men&amp;#039;s Bulges  Photo credit: Getty Images "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.cosmopolitan.com/entertainment/celebs/news/a5635/olympic-athlete-moms/>