Beatty Deutsch will once again miss an important competition because of Shabbat. She has already missed the marathon at the 2019 World Championships in Qatar and the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
"Suddenly, the struggle that all our Jewish grandmothers faced in their 20s, when they were told they would lose their jobs if they didn't show up on Sh Saturday, feels much more real," she said. But there is also good news. The World Athletics Federation decided at next year's Paris Olympics to move the women's marathon to Sunday, so that if she meets the criteria she will participate in the Olympics.