Before the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, not many people knew what “twisties” were. But they quickly learned when women’s gymnastics phenomenon Simone Biles withdrew from several competitions because of them. The star’s mental health was a central part of the Olympic commentary this time around.
Biles has been open about her therapy, and this summer in Paris, the GOAT (if we’re using official titles) won gold medals in the team final, all-around final, and vault final. She also won silver on floor exercise.
And it’s not just Biles. Several other moments at the Paris Olympics this summer have put a positive spotlight on mental health:
Stephen Nedoroscik, “the guy with the pommel horse,” had a viral moment when he was seen meditating before his competition. And high jumper Yaroslava Mahuchikh of Ukraine sought a different form of recovery. Mahuchikh was seen slipping into a sleeping bag during her competition and taking naps between jumps. And sprinter Noah Lyles, the newly crowned fastest man in the world, said in a social media post, “I have asthma, allergies, dyslexia, ADD, anxiety and depression. But I’m telling you, what you have does not determine what you can become.”
All of these athletes took home coveted medals for their countries.
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However, athletes have not always been very open about their mental health or its impact on their performance. It has been a refreshing change to see this shift and shake off the obvious stigma that comes with it.
And according to experts, this openness can be important not only for athletes but also for fans.
Why elite sport is also a mind game
Mindfulness—the cognitive ability to be fully present and aware of your thoughts and feelings—is helpful in combating stress, but honing this skill can separate a great athlete from an even better one.
Gretchen Schmelzer, a licensed psychologist who was a U.S. rowing champion herself and coached for the U.S. women’s rowing team that later competed in the 1988 Seoul Olympics, often says that training harder than you compete is “a mind game, not a body game.”
“At the level of elite sport, it is your mind that separates you from the person next to you,” says Schmelzer, who is also an author and co-founder of the Center for Trauma and Leadership.
And developing and maintaining mental performance could be crucial in competition.
“The ability to regulate our physiological response to stress enables us to perform at our best,” says Peter Economou, assistant professor of applied psychology at Rutgers University and director of behavioral health and wellness at Rutgers University Athletics.
When the discussion about mental health shifted
In the years since Biles’s retirement in Tokyo, athletes have been more open about their mental health, but something that happened before that may have sparked that change, Schmelzer says.
The Larry Nassar sexual abuse case may have actually been the “defining moment in mental health and sport,” Schmelzer says, because so many gymnasts went public, testified and spoke openly about seeking help for the trauma.
Nassar, the former team doctor for the U.S. gymnastics team and a doctor at Michigan State University, was arrested in 2016 and is accused of sexually abusing hundreds of women and girls, including Olympic champions, under the guise of providing medical treatment.
“The burden on a person is limited”
Other factors may also have influenced athletes’ attitudes and led to greater openness regarding mental health.
Athletes are sharing more about many aspects of their lives with the public, including on social media, such as training, nutrition, and sleep habits. On TikTok, you can easily find athletes giving tours of the Olympic Village and showing off their competition preparations.
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This cultural shift has helped more people like Lyles feel comfortable posting about their personal struggles.
Aside from that, not only has the stigma of mental illness declined in the U.S., but the world has also become more stressful over time, and “a person can only endure so much before they need support,” Schmelzer says.
So how can we apply the lessons from these Olympics to our own lives? First, we can follow the example of these athletes and talk openly about our feelings with the people around us.
And what about our own mindfulness? Schmelzer advises: “Try taking 10 minutes in the morning to sit outside and just look at a tree, or go for a walk or talk to a therapist.” It can be that simple.