Diagnosed With Breast Cancer at 30, Two-Time Olympian Marta Pen Freitas Shares Her Story in “In Motion,” a Documentary Series Supported by Woolly Clothing

Marta Pen Freitas was 30 years old, a two-time Olympian and, by her own description, “super in tune” with her body when she found a lump in her breast at a training camp in May 2024, weeks before she tried to qualify for her third Olympic team. Her story is now the subject of “In Motion: A Love Letter to Life on the Track,” a three-part documentary series created by and starring Marta and supported by Woolly Clothing Co., the Seattle-born maker of merino wool basics. The series premieres on YouTube during Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Marta’s diagnosis reflects a trend that health experts are watching closely. According to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, breast cancer rates among women under 50 rose about 1.4 percent per year from 2012 to 2022, and breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer death for U.S. women ages 20 to 49. The foundation also reports that nearly 80 percent of younger women who are diagnosed find the abnormality themselves, just as Marta did. “This can happen to anybody,” she says in the series.

Training Through Treatment

Marta found a care team that treated her as an athlete as well as a patient. Her treatment plan made room for her to keep competing, even as it put her body into induced menopause at 30. Through constant pain and the symptoms of menopause, she showed up at practice every day and went on to run a personal best in the 800 meters. “There was a lot of discomfort, but it still showed up for me when it was time to perform,” she says of her body.

Her diagnosis also forced a conversation that rarely makes it into sports coverage. At 30, Marta faced fertility decisions she never expected to make so soon, and now she is calling for more research, education and resources for women in sport, “so women don’t have to choose between their fertility and their careers.”

“My question is: can we be better?” she says. “Can we support women and make them be their best in their bodies, versus treating women like they’re small men?”

It’s why she chose to share her story. “If I can help one person to feel less alone in this journey: Hi, I’m here,” she says. “I went through this, and it’s possible to live something so hard that will change you.”

Marta’s Journey

Marta Pen Freitas grew up in Lisbon, the youngest of three sisters, and found running as a kid with more energy than she knew what to do with. Her father thought running wasn’t for girls until he watched her race once. In 2014, while she was racing, he passed away. A year later she moved to the United States to compete for Mississippi State University, speaking no English and carrying one goal. “I remember walking into my coach’s office and telling him, ‘Hey, I’m here because I want to be an Olympian,’” she says in the series.

After coming back from knee surgery, she fell 109 meters into the 2015 NCAA 1500m final. A year later she won it. That summer she ran for Portugal at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, and she returned to the Olympic stage at Tokyo 2020. Over seven years as a professional, she trained in Seattle with the Brooks Beasts and set the Portuguese national record in the mile.

The Series

“In Motion” pairs candid interviews filmed on Seattle’s houseboat docks with Marta’s own phone diaries, recorded in hotel rooms, cars and training camps as her story unfolded. The three episodes include:

• Episode 01, “Brutal & Beautiful”: Marta traces her path from Lisbon to two Olympic Games, then returns to the altitude camp where she felt a lump on her chest and was diagnosed with breast cancer.
• Episode 02, “Real vs. Ideal”: Marta trains through treatment at Fred Hutch, runs a personal best in the 800 meters and opens up about fertility and the information gap women athletes face. “Life’s hard, but I run anyway,” she says in one of her video diaries.
• Episode 03, “Graduation”: Marta reflects on the beginning and end of cycles, closing her first chapter with cancer and opening a new one with a fuller sense of who she is. “I’m not just scared of dying, I’m scared of not living,” she says. “And how much space can I open, and how much space can I create, to live a full life.”

Why Woolly

Woolly was founded in Seattle, the city where Marta trained as a professional and where much of “In Motion” was filmed. The brand’s mantra, More Wool. Less Plastic.™, centers on what people wear closest to their bodies, and its support of the series extends that idea to a conversation about listening to the body itself.

“Marta’s story stopped us in our tracks,” said James Kelly, Co-Founder of Woolly. “She is an Olympian who was diagnosed at 30 and kept showing up, on her own terms, inspiring those around her while fighting her own battles. We’re proud to help her tell that story in her own words, and we hope it reaches everyone who needs to hear it this October, especially the ones who think they’re too young or too healthy for this to happen to them.”

All three episodes of “In Motion: A Love Letter to Life on the Track” will be available on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@in-motionspace. Sign up at in-motion.space for direct links to each episode and updates on upcoming events.