< 'A deep depression after the Olympics.' The challenges facing athletes at home

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

The Olympics ended today in Beijing. For a lot of athletes, the Winter Games will have been the highlight of their careers. But what happens next? There's been a lot of focus during the games on mental health, but as North Country Public Radio's Emily Russell reports, athletes may need even more support now that the Olympics are over.

EMILY RUSSELL, BYLINE: Maddie Phaneuf says she'll never forget the first time she felt like an Olympian. It was at the 2018 opening ceremony in Pyeongchang. The stadium was packed, the music blasting. Phaneuf, a biathlete from a small town in northern New York, had made it big.

MADDIE PHANEUF: That was, like, the most amazing part of the whole experience.

RUSSELL: What Phaneuf and a lot of Olympians learned pretty fast, though, is that things do not always go as planned. For some this year, it's COVID. For Phaneuf in 2018, it was strep throat. She had to quarantine alone at the Olympics and never got to race. That euphoric feeling from the opening ceremony faded fast.

PHANEUF: It was really depressing and really sad, and it was, like, really hard to come home after that and, like, talk to people about it.

RUSSELL: This feeling is pretty common. Remember; most athletes who go to the Olympics don't medal. Many don't even qualify for the finals, so coming home can be hard.

HOLLY BROOKS: A lot of athletes fall into a deep depression after the Olympics.

RUSSELL: That's Holly Brooks, a two-time Olympic cross-country skier. She's now a therapist in Anchorage, Alaska, and works a lot with professional athletes. Brooks says these next few weeks after the Olympics are crucial.

BROOKS: Athletes post-Olympics or post-retirement need a lot of support, a lot of people reminding them of their worth beyond, you know, just their athletic achievements and results.

RUSSELL: Since the Summer Games last year in Tokyo, American athletes have had access to a dedicated team of counselors at the Games and other mental health resources like wellness and meditation apps. Dr. Jessica Bartley is the director of mental health services for the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee.

JESSICA BARTLEY: So we're offering individual therapy, group therapy. We do have groups that are getting together post-Games. It's just an additional resource for you to be at your best. And so I think that that's something that we've really tried to normalize.

RUSSELL: Athletes have tried to normalize that, too. Gold medalists like Simone Biles and Chloe Kim have been open about the anxiety that comes with Olympic ambitions. For biathlete Maddie Phaneuf, that pressure was too much. At the height of her career, just months before Beijing, Phaneuf retired from the sport. She says some people wondered why.

PHANEUF: Well, why'd you retire? Like, the Olympics are, like, this winter. Like, you couldn't have just lasted that much longer? It's like, no, you don't get it. Like, I physically couldn't even get out of bed.

RUSSELL: A lot has changed in the last few months. Today, Phaneuf is out at the biathlon shooting range in Lake Placid, New York. She's in a blue vest that says U.S.A. on the back. Phaneuf fires off a round.

(SOUNDBITE OF GUNSHOT)

RUSSELL: She breathes in and then fires off another.

(SOUNDBITE OF GUNSHOT)

RUSSELL: Phaneuf is here not as an athlete, but as a coach. She's helping a young high school girl focus on her breathing and shooting.

PHANEUF: I think for the rest of the shots, just trying really hard to focus on yourself.

RUSSELL: Phaneuf says coaching keeps her connected to the sport. As for her mental health, she's going to therapy once a week, but it's still a struggle. She's glad other athletes are opening up about their struggles, too, and that more people seem to be listening.

PHANEUF: People are finally recognizing that these athletes are not superhuman and robots like everyone thinks they are. It's like, oh, they're a normal person who, like, has their own mental health issues.

RUSSELL: Experts say for a lot of athletes in Beijing, those issues may really come roaring back once the excitement of the Olympics wears off. For NPR News, I'm Emily Russell in Lake Placid, New York.

(SOUNDBITE OF MAC DEMARCO SONG, "MY KIND OF WOMAN")

Copyright © 2022 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.