Imagine listening to a crowd of roaring fans each time you perform. Thousands of camera flashes follow your every move. Every moment of your life is taken up with preparation in your big moment: training, performance, media interviews and photo shoots. Then imagine going back to your each day life again – adjusting to the each day flurry of bills, going back to your day job and resuming household chores.
What happens when the gang stops screaming and also you face a return to normal life?
When the Olympic Games come to an end on August 11, those of us watching – and possibly experiencing – the thrill Strange satisfaction – There may additionally be a sense of emptiness. But that's nothing in comparison with the Olympic void many athletes will experience after the Games.
For athletes returning home from the Olympic Games, their journey is normally accompanied by radical changes within the environment and considerable physical and mental changes. A unique climate, sights and smells and an absence of excited echoes in fields filled with hope. Suddenly the hype surrounding an athlete's performance subsides and their intense training schedule returns to normal as their body recovers.
For athletes, the preparation for the Olympic Games is a four-year period, demanding great personal and skilled sacrifices and bringing with it an incredible deal of pressure.
The event itself is an experience of sensory overload – huge crowds and deafening noise. There's the pressure to perform on a world scale and – at the very least for a fortnight – the celebrity status that comes with being an Olympic athlete.
Some players thrive in such an environment, specifically On the home field. But for others it could be one. A nightmare experience.
Even seasoned Olympic athletes, resembling US gymnasts and 11-time Olympic medalists Simone Biles and former US swimmer Michael Phelps – The most successful and most decorated swimmer of all time opened About their post-Olympic blues.
Looking back, Phelps said in May 2024: “2004 was the first taste of post-Olympic depression, you know, coming off that high.” Neil Wilson, British artistic gymnast and Olympic bronze medalist. Spoken publicly About his experience of the Olympic fall.
“Comedownis a term commonly related to withdrawal from stimulant medications. But the emotions experienced by the players will not be very different. Top players are tied to their game. Release of the hormone adrenaline. The Olympic comedown is a response to the “high” experienced by the adrenaline rush throughout the Games.
Adrenaline addiction is usually related to this. Extreme sports But the participants The study is shown Addictive disorders – including alcohol, drugs and gambling – can affect athletes in a spread of sports.
For elite athletes, success can develop into an addiction. And, unfortunately, for some the “high” from winning and a spotlight could be replaced by other addictions after the competition is over. Athletes feel like “Rock stars” – commented an expert wrestler. “There is no better medicine.” More than their game.
Prolonged media attention can delay a contest. The post-Olympic blues But for a lot of athletes fully retired from elite sport, this transition from feeling like a celeb to being an everyday person again can present a big threat to their psychological health and well-being. Replacing the sports experience with something constructive Can be a challenge.
Coping with the post-event blues
Many athletes have a robust but narrow sense of identity – what they do is a big a part of who they’re. Once the athletes return from the Olympic Games, they might undergo an experiment. Existential crisisAsking yourself “What now?”, or “What does it all mean?”
But it doesn't should be a negative experience. Studies have shown that when athletes pause their game, it’s a chance to reflect, define and explore values. Alternative ways of life.
Preparing the mind and body is as essential to at least one's health as psyching as much as perform. Oh 2022 study reported that any such preparation and player support remains to be lacking.
Days before 800m runner Kelly Hodgkinson wins gold at Paris 2024 opened On coping with depression after ending second on the Tokyo Games 4 years ago and “only” winning a silver medal, saying: “I didn't realize that the Olympic cut was a really big thing.”
The post-event slump doesn't just affect Olympians, though. We can all experience prolonged depression for a serious life event. While the next coping strategies were suggested by Elite players To help other athletes avoid post-competition depression, they could be helpful for anyone attempting to navigate our way through the blues after a giant event.
The first step is to simply accept that you understand the goal is over, then take the time to enjoy and have fun what you’ve got achieved. Reflect on what went well, what didn't go well and what you enjoyed. Most importantly, make an inventory of the fun stuff you missed while preparing for the event – so possibly going to the films, hobbies, more free time to devote to family and friends, or the beach. go to Then, during your time after the event, attempt to go and do this stuff.
Filling our lives with meaningful activities after a giant event will help us all cope with the come-down – whether we're Olympic rock stars or more abnormal people.