CHILDBIRTH is no longer the death knell for elite women athletes.

Japan's judo queen Ryoko Tani, 33, is attempting to become the first Japanese mother to win an Olympic gold next month in Beijing. She is taking part in the sport's lightest division - the under-48kg bantamweight.

"I won gold as Tamura in Sydney and as Tani in Athens. Now, I will win gold as a mama," said the former Ryoko Tamura, who married professional baseball player Yoshitomo Tani in 2003 and gave birth to a boy in late 2005.

She is not alone. Britain's Paula Radcliffe, holder of the world's best time for the women's marathon, had her first baby in January last year.

She has since won the New York Marathon last November and is now eyeing the one accolade that has eluded her - the Olympic gold.

"What has surprised me most is that people ask if I will carry on competing," she had said after her childbirth.

"This is especially surprising, as I have said I want to carry on until 2012."

And in Australia, Jana Rawlinson won the 400m hurdles world title last year, eight months after giving birth to her first child.

She was also targeting gold in Beijing before a toe injury cruelly ruled her out yesterday.

Even more astonishing is American swimmer Dara Torres, mother of a two year-old son.

At 41, she will be the oldest US woman to compete at the Games.

Clearly, the societal barrier that Fanny Blankers-Koen cleared at the 1948 Olympics by winning four gold medals as a mother of two has now been trampled by this generation of multi-tasking mothers.

While there is little scientific proof that childbirth may undermine a female athlete's physical well-being, the more pressing concern is how she copes mentally with both parental and sporting pressure.

Can these mothers still find the single-minded drive that athletes need to succeed at this level?

Marion Jones could not. After giving birth to a son in 2003, the sprinter failed to win any medals at the Athens Games.

Said the American then: "My career is still extremely important to me. But if it were to end tomorrow, I would still have my son, and that'd be okay."

Tani, Radcliffe and Rawlinson will attempt to prove otherwise in Beijing.

As Radcliffe's husband Gary Lough said: "I believe Paula will come back better than ever - this is probably the happiest I have seen her in a long time."