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EDITORIAL
H
ave you ever considered
what it must be like to be
an elite athlete, regularly in
the public eye? When things are going
well for you, the media, and the public,
love you.The sense of achievement is
immense. You are a sporting hero and the
media want to know everything about
you.The highs are great and there is
real meaning, focus and purpose to your
life. Sure, it’s hard, all that training and
obsession with diet, but the winning is
worth it, especially when it comes with
the adulation of the crowds.
Sounds great doesn’t it?
However, as with all things in life, one
day it is gone. No longer can you achieve
the performances of before and the media
and public lose interest. You have to get
used to not having the same focus in life
and to the relative obscurity that the rest
of us enjoy all of the time.The problem
is, when you have been in the public eye
for so long, have been pumped by the
crowd chanting your name, it is difficult
to accept that you will never achieve those
heights again.
Some athletes and players can cope
with it.They may already have, or develop,
other interests to provide another focus in
life.Team GB Olympic Champion cyclist
Victoria Pendleton said that she couldn’t
wait to go on to new ventures in her life
and was much happier after the pressure
of competing was no longer a burden.
For some others it is family or friends
that provide that foundation and meaning
that they need in their lives.
But for many high performance
athletes and players, it feels like they are
cast adrift without any support network
and fail to cope with normal, everyday life
after competition.
The truth is that sportspeople are
actually one of the most likely groups in
society to fall into depression, with some
reports suggesting that it could be as
many as one in four athletes that suffer
from the condition at some stage in their
life.
In February IanThorpe was admitted
to rehabilitation after years of struggling
with crippling depression, alcohol abuse
and a failed comeback at the London
Olympics. He is not the only one that
has struggled during or after retiring from
competition. England cricketer Freddie
Flintoff and double Olympic Champion
Dame Kelly Holmes are just two of the
high profile athletes who have made their
depression public. Paul Gascoigne and
Frank Bruno have been afflicted by the
illness and have been open and willing to
share their issues to help raise the profile
of depression in athletic retirement. John
Kirwan, the All Black rugby player has
spoken publicly about his depression
and has set up mental health awareness
campaigns in New Zealand. In bravely
revealing the difficulties they’ve faced,
they have raised awareness and sent a
message to other sportspeople that it is
OK to talk about mental health issues.
Sporting and health experts argue that
elite athletes need to receive more support
so they can better cope with life after
competition.
NSW Institute of Sport psychologist
Gerard Faure-Brac would like to see
THE HIGHS
AND THE
LOWS
OF ELITE
ATHLETES
Steve Boucher