Five-time world champion and Tokyo Olympic gold medalist surfer Carissa Moore spoke candidly about the obstacles she overcame to rise to the top.
“The truth is, after I won my third world title, I had a mental breakdown,” she explained at a spring media event in New York, adding that at one point, she felt like she was competing for everyone else.
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Previous generations of Olympians were expected to smile and perform in the face of physical pain, psychological trauma or even outright abuse. Today’s athletes are more open about their struggles and say being honest about their mental health has helped them maintain better balance in their lives.
“I had hit rock bottom, was feeling a little depressed and anxious, and that’s when I decided, ‘OK, I’ve got to change things up. Surfing has always been fun,'” she said.
Mental health is no longer a taboo topic at the Olympics. Gymnast Simone Biles and swimmer Caleb Dressel’s crowd-pleasing performances showed their resilience and determination. But their comebacks also opened up a discussion about mental health support among Olympians. They provide examples of how athletes have sought their own approaches to living a balanced life, despite the intense Olympic spotlight.
“Some athletes are brave enough to talk about the challenges they need to develop those coping skills,” says Joel Fish, who runs the Sport Psychology Center in Philadelphia and has worked with the U.S. women’s field hockey and soccer teams.
Gymnast Simone Biles is not only smiling again at the Olympics, she’s also competing. So is swimmer Caleb Dressel. Both athletes took a break from competition to take a mental break after the last Tokyo Olympics. Neither was sure they would be able to return to the Olympics.
Over the weekend, Biles overcame a calf injury to lead the U.S. women’s gymnastics team to first place in the team qualifying round, including mastering one of the most difficult vaults in the world, while Dressel anchored the final leg of an explosive 4x100m freestyle relay that helped the U.S. win its first gold medal at the Paris Games.
Their electrifying performance was a testament to their resilience and determination, but their comeback also broadens the conversation around mental health support for Olympic athletes and illustrates the unique approaches athletes are taking to lead balanced lives.
Why I wrote this
The story is
Previous generations of Olympians were expected to smile and perform in the face of physical pain, psychological trauma or even outright abuse. Today’s athletes are more open about their struggles and say being honest about their mental health has helped them maintain better balance in their lives.
“Some athletes are brave enough to talk about the challenges they need to face to develop those coping skills,” says Joel Fish, who runs the Sport Psychology Center in Philadelphia and has worked with the U.S. women’s field hockey and soccer teams.
The pressure to win at the Olympic and professional levels has “increased tremendously,” he added. Dr. Fish noted that the intense immediacy of feedback from social media is what transforms the pressure on athletes. The close scrutiny intensifies the pressure to win, he said. Athletes need to develop a sense of self that is independent of the competition.
“When you have a high-profile event like the Olympics, it gives athletes a chance,” says Fish, “because their identity isn’t dependent on their performance.”
Ahead of Biles’ women’s gymnastics debut on Sunday, former Olympian and gymnastics coach Chelsea Memmel spoke about Biles’ mindset.
“When I look at her now, I think she’s in a really good place,” Memmel said. “She’s excited about gymnastics and she’s having fun. I think this is redemption for her.”
Athletes’ mental health has always been a concern at the Olympics, but Biles stunned the world by withdrawing from most of the competition in Tokyo in 2021 after developing “twisties,” a condition in which the mind and body become dangerously disconnected while in the air. That year, she was part of the women’s team that won the silver medal and won a bronze medal on the individual balance beam.
Fresh off winning five gold medals in Tokyo 2022, Dressel took eight months off swimming after withdrawing from the World Aquatics Championships. Like Biles, she sought help and went to therapy.
Other Olympians have struggled with anxiety, eating disorders and mental breakdowns, and the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) has responded by hiring new mental health staff in recent years.
“I think that by athletes becoming more vocal, it will spark conversations about mental health and wellness and encourage them to take time off and take care of their mental health,” Jess Bartley, USOPC’s senior director of psychological services, said at an Olympics media event in New York in the spring.
She credited athletes for advocating for themselves, adding that overall there has been a movement to destigmatize mental health awareness.
Dr Bartley was hired in December 2020 after the Tokyo Olympics were postponed because of the coronavirus. She and her staff of six mental health professionals then saw some of the first cases of athletes who had been training for four years becoming demoralized after being unable to compete.
She now has a staff of 15, all based in Paris, and before they arrived, her team put measures in place, such as ensuring that all athletes competing undergo mental health screening at least once a year.
“I think there’s a great appreciation for the resources,” Dr. Bartley said, adding that her office is integrated into the national governing bodies of Olympic sports.
Five-time world champion and Tokyo Olympic gold medalist surfer Carissa Moore says she overcame many obstacles on her journey to the top.
“The truth is, after I won my third world title, I had a mental breakdown,” she explained at a media event in the spring, adding that at one point, she felt like she was competing for everyone else.
“I had hit rock bottom, was feeling a little depressed and anxious, and that’s when I decided, ‘OK, I’ve got to change things up. Surfing has always been fun,'” she said.
Moore plans to take a break from competitive swimming after surfing the waves in Tahiti at the 2024 Olympics. She wants to start a family with her husband and enjoy life outside of sport, but it took time to find peace of mind and she needed the help of a psychologist to get there.
Dr. Fish, who has also consulted for professional sports teams, advocates for athletes to develop coping skills early on. Ways to combat pressure, he says, include managing stress, using positive self-talk, doing breathing and focus exercises, visualization and other mental preparation techniques.
He credits the work universities are doing to find ways to help young athletes with mental health issues, and he says it’s especially important for them to develop an identity that includes not just their sport but also their personal interests.
Biles has a Maya Angelou poem, “Still I Rise,” tattooed on her collarbone to support herself. The gymnast said in the new Netflix documentary series that the quote is “a microcosm of my career and my life story” because it’s what she’s always done after trauma or setbacks: get back up.
Biles recently spoke to “Today Show” co-host Hoda Kotb about when her comeback journey began. “I woke up one day and I was like, ‘Okay, I’m going to give it another go,'” she said.
