Winning one gold medal on the biggest stage is the lifelong dream of most Paralympians. Defending the title can be even sweeter. And what if that monumental achievement happens within two years of becoming a mother? Third-time Paralympian swimmer Mallory Weggemann bagged her fourth gold at the tournament in Paris just moments ago, and she did it within months of giving birth.

35-year-old Weggemann defended her gold from the Tokyo Paralympics in the 200m individual medley (SM7) in the City of Love, clocking 2:53.29 and smashing through her own world record by almost a second in the process. What’s more impressive is, this is her first gold after becoming a mother just 17 months ago. Weggemann’s latest achievement is worthy of celebration and the official X handle of Team USA took to the platform on September 2 for just that. “Super mom,” rightfully lauds the post at the swimmer.

Weggemann and her husband Jay Synder became proud parents of little Charlotte in 2023. Considering the physical toil she had to go through, her Paralympics feat would look even more astounding. In the accompanying video of the X post, the Kansas native can be seen touching the wall almost four seconds ahead of Canadian swimmer Tess Routliffe. Right after breaking her own record from the last Paralympic Games, Weggemann was seen blowing kisses toward the stands where her toddler was in the arms of Snyder.

For understandable reasons, Mallory’s husband was overwhelmed with emotions after seeing her attain yet another milestone in her career. For the swimmer too, it became apparent soon that her latest golden hardware pales in front of the joy she has felt after welcoming Charlotte to the world. “No matter what I do here at the pool, to her, I’m just always mama,” grinned Weggemann during the post-race interview.

“Tonight, to be able to bring home gold and have this moment where she’s gonna get to see her mama sit atop the Paralympic podium is everything,” said Weggemann in the interview. She also had a message for her daughter, who she noted is still too young to comprehend everything happening in Paris. Along with representing the USA, the swimmer said that she wanted to “show Charlotte that she can be anything she dreams of in this world.” With her latest win, the Weggemann-Snyder family will also have the perfect culmination of the year-long journey they have been on.

Life beyond as a swimmer for Mallory Weggemann

The Paralympian and her life partner were overjoyed when Charlotte Ann Snyder came to this world. In an interview with PEOPLE last year, Weeggmann noted the thrill of being a new mom. “Holding Little One in my arms after long carrying her in our hearts is something that is still hard to put into words,” she said, highlighting that nothing in the world prepared the couple for the experience. “I look at Charlotte … and I see a sweet little miracle that fought so hard to join us in this world,” Mallory said of her newborn baby, and we can barely fathom the love the swimmer has to give to the little one. Since her daughter’s birth, Weggemann and Snyder have also documented their journey into becoming parents.

The author of Limitless and her husband have made a documentary titled Watershed, where they attempt to alleviate the prejudices surrounding male infertility and having a baby through IVF. “Infertility in general is something that has still carried a stigma with it in our society. And there’s a lot of people that are going through it behind closed doors,” said Mallory to MPR News about what they wanted to talk about in their film. Have you watched it? Tell us which part did you enjoy the most from the movie with a comment!