Barbora Špotáková

The Czech Republic's double Olympic javelin champion has announced she is expecting her first child with her long-time boyfriend, Lukas Novotny.

At the weekend Spotakova was named the Czech Athlete of the Year for the sixth time in a row after her glory at London 2012 this summer and now there is even more reason for her to smile.

She said: "Together with Lukas we are very happy and are looking forward to it.

"We wanted it and it is kind of a surprise that it came so fast.

"The doctor told me I can continue doing sports. I can get back to my earlier level."

It means she will miss next summer's IAAF World Championships in Moscow but is planning to return for the 2014 season when the European Athletics Championships take place in Zurich.

Spotakova has won silver and bronze at previous European Championships, but never the gold.

Her long-term aim is to win a third Olympic crown in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 - a feat achieved by her coach, the legendary Jan Zelezny at the 1992, 1996 and 2000 Games.

Spotakova, 31, will join a long list of women athletes who have had children and returned to the sport.

Famously Scotland's Liz McColgan won the World 10,000m title in Tokyo in 1991 less than a year after the birth of her daughter Eilish, now a British international 3,000m steeplechaser.

As McColgan said in an interview in 2010: "I won the world title nine months after giving birth.

"I just went on a whim and responded to how it felt, taking the view that it would be only as difficult as I wanted to make it.

"But there is now research which says that after you have a child, you actually feel stronger physically."

source:european-athletics