Olympian 'Chumpy' Pullin's widow welcomes his daughter 15 months after death

Ellidy Pullin, partner to Gold Coast Olympic snowboarder Alex 'Chumpy' Pullin, recently welcomed a baby girl 15 months after his devastating death last year. 

Pullin was a two-time world champion snowboarder who died while spearfishing in Australia in July 2020. The 32-year-old snowboarder competed in three Olympics in total and was the Australian flag bearer at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. 

Pullin announced in June that she was pregnant with a little one they’d been dreaming about for years. She said the couple had been trying to have a baby, and after going through IVF, in vitro fertilization, she finally became pregnant. 

“When my love had his accident, we all held onto hope that I’d be pregnant that month,” she wrote. “ IVF was on our cards but it wasn’t something I ever imagined I’d be tackling on my own. Bittersweet like none other, I’ve never been more certain or excited about anything in my entire life.”

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The couple’s baby, Minnie Alex Pullin, was born on Oct. 25, according to Pullin’s Instagram account where she posted two photos of her with Minnie. Pullin then went on the podcast Darling, Shine! to discuss her journey with IVF. 

“I’ve seriously wanted a child since I was 16 years old,” she said. “I've had no doubt in my mind that I wanted to be a mom,” adding "we did that sperm retrieval process, of course, because Chump passed away, to get his sperm. The doctor did hand select the best viable sperm out of the millions and popped it straight into the egg."

She calls Minnie a miracle due to the fact that Pullin had a previous miscarriage at 7 weeks. She told Vogue Australia that her pregnancy was also “bittersweet” adding “on one hand it feels overwhelmed with happiness while also knowing Chump’s not here to share in it.”

It was reported that Pullin was freediving and spearfishing before his death. He was later found unconscious without an oxygen mask and it appeared he had been diving alone at the time. Emergency services performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation for 45 minutes, but he couldn’t be saved.

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