Courtesy photoAliphine Tuliamuk is in Japan with her daughter. She is sharing her biggest athletic moment with Zoe, born on Jan. 16, while breastfeeding.
Tuliamuk had to fight for this moment, to run the Olympic Marathon in Sapporo while caring for Zoe.
鈥淎 breastfeeding child is an extension of a mom,鈥� Tuliamuk said last month. 鈥淭here is absolutely no way you can separate a child who is nursing from their mother. It鈥檚 just not OK.鈥�
Aliphine Tuliamuk won that fight. In late July, Olympic organizers allowed nursing children to accompany their mothers.
That is the Aliphine that Wichita State track and field coaches and her teammates knew during her time as an All-American distance runner. Resolute. Confident. Willing to push for what she wants or needs.
At 4 p.m. (CST) Friday, she runs in the Olympic Marathon. Tuliamuk, from Kenya, became an American citizen in 2016 after
Along the way, she cultivated a strong voice, advocating for herself and others.
鈥淚鈥檝e always been an outspoken person,鈥� she said. 鈥淏efore, I just didn鈥檛 have a platform. People listen, and I want to use it for the greater good.鈥�
At Wichita State, she insisted on running in elite meets to help her development, a common practice in college track. She often trained with the men鈥檚 distance runners to push her to the level she desired.
She talked about the horrors of female genital mutilation and the poor state of healthcare in Kenya, issues that motivated her to go into nursing. When she earned U.S. citizenship, she talked about her pride in the United States and how much the country helped her life.
She is proud to inspire Black girls to see their future as a runner, a college athlete, an All-American or an Olympian. She said she regularly receives messages from girls expressing their gratitude for that example.
As a mother, she is using her status as an Olympian to nurture other female athletes, just as she leaned on athletes such as Kara Goucher and Stephanie Bruce. Tuliamuk trains with Northern Arizona Elite in Flagstaff, Arizona, along with former Shocker Kellyn Taylor. Taylor, who finished third in the NCAA Championships indoor mile in 2009, has an 11-year-old daughter named Kylyn.
鈥淪he realized she had a platform,鈥� Taylor said. 鈥淪he saw an issue and decided that 鈥業 have a voice and people will hear me and listen.鈥� That鈥檚 a great thing to do. Her dealing with her daughter in the Olympics was completely ridiculous, so I鈥檓 glad she spoke up.鈥�
Olympic marathon runner
Tuliamuk grew close with Debbie and Mike Kennedy during her time as a Shocker. Debbie, a former nurse and teacher in the Wichita State School of Nursing, mentored Tuliamuk when her academic path changed from nursing to health services management and community development.
Mike, the radio voice of Shocker athletics, and Debbie traveled to Des Moines and Austin to watch Tuliamuk run in NCAA competition, and they remain close with her.
Debbie sees Tuliamuk鈥檚 voice as one cultivated by her family. She grew up as one of 32 siblings in a small village in Kenya.
鈥淪he was one of the oldest and had to help take care of the siblings,鈥� Debbie said. 鈥淪he became a guardian over so many different people. After she turned professional, she really started speaking out on disenfranchised individuals, particularly women, and representing them. She used her running ability to showcase her thoughts.鈥�
Tuliamuk considers it her duty to provide a role model for women dealing with the uncertainty of competing in elite athletics while raising a child.
鈥淟ucky for me, the women before me, they shared their experiences,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 am able to have much better support than the women before me.鈥�
Tuliamuk finished sixth in the Fourth of July AJC Peachtree Road Race (10 kilometers), her first race since giving birth. She targeted 34 minutes and finished with a time of 32:43. Her performance there provided confidence in her fitness level.
鈥淲hen you are a first-time mom and you are a pro athlete, your job depends on you being 100-percent healthy,鈥� she said. 鈥淲hen you are in the process of becoming a mom, you just don鈥檛 know if you can do it. You don鈥檛 know what to expect. I want to share my story, because I want professional athletes to see what I did and know they can do it, too.鈥�
Zoe鈥檚 presence in Japan is the most important part of Tuliamuk鈥檚 story.
鈥淚鈥檓 running for my daughter,鈥� she said. 鈥淓verything I do, I鈥檓 teaching her how to be a strong independent woman, how to overcome obstacles.鈥�
To her coaches at Wichita State, Tuliamuk鈥檚 example is summed up by a cold February early morning in 2013 after an eight-hour bus ride from Cedar Falls, Iowa, to Wichita.
File photoOver the preceding two days, Tuliamuk scored 28 points to lead Wichita State to the title at the Missouri Valley Conference Indoor Championships. She won the 3,000- and 5,000-meter runs and helped the distance medley relay team finish first. Hours before jumping on the bus, she finished second in the mile.
On the way back to Wichita, the weather report bothered her. Snow and ice threatened to stop her workout on Monday.
鈥淚 said 鈥業t looks like it鈥檚 going to hit at 3 a.m., right when we get back,鈥欌�� said John Wise, assistant director of track and field. 鈥淪he got immediately agitated. 鈥榃hen am I going to run? I need to run.鈥欌��
The snow held off a few hours. She ran the sidewalks and streets of Wichita after getting off the bus. When Wise called her the next morning, Tuliamuk had completed her 12-mile workout.
鈥淚 never wanted to make excuses,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 remember thinking I had to beat the snow. I was done by 6 a.m. Now I can just go to sleep and the snowstorm can come.鈥�
That is, some say, what runners do. They need their routine and they need to run. Not all runners.
鈥淚 tell kids that all the time,鈥� Wise said. 鈥淚 go 鈥榊ou think are you into this. Are you this into it? Would you have done that?鈥� Some people are just built different. She wasn鈥檛 going to let the ice stop her.鈥�
