Gabriel Medina, the No. 1-ranked world champion surfer, said Monday that he would not compete in the 2022 World Surf League season and would instead focus on his mental health.
“The last few months have been a difficult time for me personally and it has taken a toll on me,” said Mr. Medina, 28, from São Paulo, Brazil. He added: “I’m not in a place where I think I can compete against the best surfers in the world right now and I need to focus on my well-being.”
Mr. Medina’s announcement, a veteran of the sport who has won three world titles, including one last year, follows that of other Featured athletes who have similarly prioritized their mental health over competition in recent years, forcing the sports community to confront the pressures of competition.
During the Summer Games in Tokyo last summer, Simone Biles, the four-time Olympic gold medalist, withdrew from part of the competition, citing mental health issues. Naomi Osaka, the tennis champion who is the highest paid female athlete in the world, withdrew from the French Open last year, saying he had faced “long bouts of depression” since won the US Open in 2018. and basketball players A’ja WilsonDeMar DeRozan and kevin love have spoken publicly about their depression.
“It’s old stuff,” said Ross Flowers, a Los Angeles-based sports psychologist whose client list includes Olympic athletes and professional and collegiate teams. “I think as a society we have become more receptive to hearing some of our most public figures open up and talk about what is affecting them, or maybe even impeding their performance.”
Mr. Medina’s decision, Dr. Flowers said, “continues to put more focus on the need to recognize mental health” among athletes.
Mr. Medina had hinted in September that he would not compete in the 2022 season. He said SPEAR!a Brazilian sports news site, that at least for a while needed to “stop thinking only about the competition” and that the time had come to “take a break”.
In its Instagram post on Monday, he said he intended to compete this season after preparing himself mentally and physically while getting a Covid vaccination over the holidays. But he experienced “a roller coaster of emotions in and out of the water” last year and felt “completely drained,” he said.
In addition to getting over a minor hip injury, Medina said, he also wanted to heal emotionally.
“Acknowledging and admitting that I am not well has been a very difficult process, and choosing to take the time to take care of myself was perhaps the most difficult decision I have ever made in my entire life,” said Mr. Medina. and he added that he would return to the sport whenever he felt capable.
Cybil Streett, a sports psychotherapist in Orange County, California, said some of her clients who are surfers struggle with injuries and sometimes feel emotionally overwhelmed during recovery.
Surfing, he said, is a sport with many variables: the strength of the waves, the weather and the direction of the wind. Those variables can wear athletes out over time, she said.
Erik Logan, CEO of the World Surf League, said in a statement that “the health and safety of our athletes is of the utmost importance, and we fully support Gabriel’s decision to prioritize their well-being.”
Last year, the league reshuffled its schedule and revised how it would crown a champion. Surfers typically racked up points at events throughout the year, sometimes knowing who would win the championship even before the final event in Hawaii began.
But under the new playoff system, there is a one-day surf-off between the top five surfers.
Mr Medina said last year that he did not like the new system because it was unfair.
“You spend your life, a year, and now the last event in September, are you going to decide your whole year?” she said in September.
John Macri, a sports psychologist in Ridgewood, NJ, said that as more athletes like Mr. Medina speak out about their mental health, “that stigma of keeping everything in the closet is gone.”
“I congratulate you on that,” he said. “Hopefully other athletes will do the same and not neglect their health.”
