When the Winter Games open in Beijing on Friday, mental health will be a central issue for many of the competitors who endured an exceptionally stressful road to the start line.
“We will have a laser focus on mental health and wellness for athletes,” said Bahati Van Pelt, chief of athlete services for the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee.
Biles isn’t the only Olympic star to be outspoken about mental health issues. Michael Phelps, the legendary swimmer who is by far the most successful athlete in history, spoke candidly about his suicidal thoughts. Japanese tennis player Naomi Osaka, who lit the cauldron at the Tokyo Opening Ceremony, has been battling anxiety and depression.
“People invalidate it and say, ‘Why do you have to be depressed?’ ” said Olympic figure skating medalist Gracie Gold, who has dealt with depression and an eating disorder. “You are an Olympian, you have all these things going for you.”
While the pressure to perform is nothing new for Olympic athletes, the stress has been heightened by the pervasiveness of social media that puts athletes in the unrelenting and often ruthless spotlight. The ongoing COVID pandemic, which disrupted the qualifying season, required athletes to take exceptional precautions to avoid testing positive and will force them to live in a “closed loop” at the Games away from family and friends, only made the tension worse.
Therefore, the USOPC has conducted an assessment of winter athletes around anxiety, depression, eating and sleeping disorders, and alcohol and drug use. Olympic athletes will have access to mental health services both at the Games and through video technology with professionals at the committee’s headquarters in Colorado Springs.
For most athletes, the road to Olympus is turbulent under any circumstances.
“The Games are the highest highs and lowest lows that 99 percent of athletes are going to experience,” said snowboarder Faye Gulini, who will be competing in her fourth Games. “The roller coaster is exhausting because many times your success comes at the expense of the failure of your peers. We’re close friends, so to see one athlete celebrate making the team or win the Olympics and watch another suffer because they lost their Olympic dream or didn’t qualify is like nothing I’ve ever experienced in my life.”
Few U.S. Olympians had a wilder ride this winter than luger Chris Mazdzer, the surprising 2018 silver medalist who had a big shot at qualifying for the Games in three events, saw him fail one weekend in Latvia and then received a return ticket. when the US was given an additional spot.
“I’m not really a person who thinks the world is against me, but it was pretty tough the last couple of months,” said Mazdzer, who broke his foot in a preseason training accident in Russia. “It was like almost nothing went the way I wanted. But that doesn’t mean it will always be like this. I am always optimistic. My goal is to get to the Games. I’m going to do everything I can. If that’s not enough, then that’s not enough. I’m going to give 100 percent and I’m going to go down with the swing.”
Winter athletes are used to the unpredictable nature of snow and ice sports, where medals are often determined by a few hundredths of a second. And their itinerant lives that see them travel across multiple continents also help them develop adaptability and resilience.
“They are very familiar with being away from support systems, sometimes spouses, children, in some cases five months out of the year,” said Sean McCann, USOPC senior sports psychologist. “So that’s always a challenge. In a way, I would say that our winter athletes are a bit better prepared. They are really good with Zoom and FaceTime and any other technological way to connect with their families.”
Athletes have a variety of ways to manage the stress that comes with competition.
“It’s really important during crazy times in your life, like the ones we’re about to have, to stay grounded,” said freestyle skier David Wise, who will be seeking his third consecutive halfpipe title in Beijing. “My faith is a big part of what grounds me. Spending time in prayer and meditation, having that solitude away from all the distractions and all the noise, is really huge for me.”
Brita Sigourney, another freestyle medalist, relies on yoga and reading. Chen looks to his support group of parents, coaches and psychologists.
“Truly trust your team, trust the people around you,” he said. “They can definitely see a perspective that you won’t be able to see. I found that helps immensely.”
However, Olympians still must deal with the weight of expectations, very often their own.
“I think when you’re younger, every run seems to be either the best thing or the end of the world,” observed cross-country skier Jessie Diggins, whose perfectionism led to an eating disorder.
Winning a groundbreaking gold medal at the 2018 Games just added to the pressure. “It was almost harder for me after the gold medal,” said Diggins, who will again be one of the podium favorites in Beijing. “I felt like everyone was looking at me to keep doing it, flawlessly, forever.”
Olympic figure skaters often feel like the world is literally watching them, dissecting everything from their choreography to their costumes to their cosmetics.
“It wasn’t just pressure to do well, but how I looked while doing it,” said Gold, a two-time national champion. “Because in figure skating the whole design thing is to do the hardest things possible while looking effortless in a little dress in front of millions of people.”
Biles, who won four golds as a teenager at the Rio Games, felt he was expected to at least match that performance five years later, when he was 24. “I really feel like I have the weight of the world on my shoulders sometimes,” she said on Instagram after the Olympic qualifying round.
Most of his fellow five-ringers who have felt the same way were grateful for Biles’ candor and courage in choosing not to focus on their well-being.
“Whether or not people like to talk about it, everyone is dealing with something,” Chen said. “Simone gives us all hope and comfort knowing that when the time comes, we just have to do what’s best for us, whether it’s racing or not racing. That is the athlete’s decision.”
John Powers can be contacted at [email protected].
