Imagine hearing a crowd of roaring fans each time you appear. Thousands of flashes following your every move. Every moment of your life is dedicated to preparing for the large moment: training, performances, media interviews and photo shoots. And then imagine going back to your each day life – getting used to the each day humdrum of bills, going back to your each day job and going back to your household chores.
What happens when the crowds stop screaming and you’ve got to face returning to normal life?
When the Olympic Games end on August 11, we who watched these emotions – and perhaps experienced them ourselves – vicarious satisfaction – may experience a feeling of emptiness. But that is nothing in comparison with the emptiness that many athletes will experience after the Olympic Games.
For athletes returning home from the Olympics, the trip normally involves a radical change of scenery and significant physical and mental changes. A distinct climate, sights and smells, and no more excitement within the anticipation-filled arenas. Suddenly, the thrill across the athlete’s performance fades, and the extraordinary training schedule returns to normal as their bodies recuperate.
For athletes, preparing for the Olympic Games is a 4-12 months cycle that requires enormous personal and skilled sacrifices and is associated with enormous pressure.
The event itself is a sensory overload experience—huge crowds and deafening noise. Add to that the pressure of acting on a world stage and—for no less than two weeks—the celebrity status that comes with being an Olympic athlete.
Some athletes thrive on this environment, especially on your individual territory. But for others it could also be a terrible experience.
Even seasoned Olympic athletes just like the American gymnast and 11-time Olympic medalist Simone Biles and former American swimmer Michael Phelps – probably the most decorated and most successful swimmer of all time – has opened up about their post-Olympic sadness.
Reflecting on this, Phelps said in May 2024, “2004 was my first experience of post-Olympic depression, you know, coming off that high.” Nile Wilson, a British artistic gymnast and Olympic bronze medalist, has spoken in public about his experience of post-Olympic relegation.
“Exit” is a term commonly associated with withdrawal from stimulant drugs. However, the feelings experienced by athletes are not that different. The high that athletes feel during sports has been linked to release of the hormone adrenaline. The Olympic descent is a response to the “high” one feels when adrenaline is released in the course of the games.
Adrenaline addiction is often associated with extreme sport participants, but studies have shown that addictive disorders – including alcoholism, drugs and gambling – can affect athletes from many disciplines.
Success can change into like a drug for elite athletes. And unfortunately, for some, the “high” of victory and attention will be replaced by other addictions once the competition is over. Athletes report feeling like “rock stars“- one in all the skilled wrestlers commented on this “there is no higher medicine” than their sport.
Long-term media attention may delay the attack Post-Olympic Blues but for a lot of athletes who retire from elite sport altogether, this shift from feeling like a celebrity to becoming an odd person again can pose serious risks to their mental health and well-being. Replacing the sporting experience with something constructive will be a challenge.
Dealing with depression after the event
Many athletes have a strong but narrow sense of identity – what they do is a huge a part of who they’re. When athletes return from the Olympic Games, they might experience existential crisisasking yourself “what now?” or “what does this all mean?”
But it doesn’t should be a negative experience. Studies have shown that when athletes stop playing sports, it will be a chance to reflect, make clear values and seek alternative ways of life.
Preparing your mind and body to calm down for your individual health is just as essential as mentally preparing for the performance. Study 2022 It was reported that this sort of preparation and support for athletes is still insufficient.
Just days before 800m runner Keely Hodgkinson wins gold in Paris 2024 opened up about experiencing depression after ending second and winning “only” silver on the Tokyo Olympics 4 years earlier, saying: “I didn’t realize that a drop in form after the Olympics was such a big deal.”
Post-event crises are usually not limited to Olympic athletes, nevertheless. We can all experience depression after a long period of preparation for a major life event. While the next coping strategies have been suggested by elite athletes To help other athletes overcome post-competition depression, they might be useful to anyone attempting to cope with the sadness after a major event.
The first step is to simply accept that you understand you’ve got achieved your goal, and then take some day without work to enjoy and rejoice what you’ve got completed. Reflect on what went well, what didn’t go so well, and what you enjoyed. Most importantly, make a list of the enjoyable belongings you didn’t get to do within the lead-as much as the event – for instance, going to the flicks, spending more day without work on hobbies, friends and family, or going to the beach. Then, in your free time after the event, make it a point to go and do those things.
Filling our lives with meaningful activities after a big event might help all of us cope with a low mood – whether we’re Olympic stars or regular people.
