Even Olympians battle impostor syndrome. How one Team USA psychologist is supporting athletes’ mental health in Paris

Kweku Smith, PhD, a psychological services provider for the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, models the Team USA Medical Team’s first official Olympics uniform, designed by Figs, ahead of the 2024 Summer Games in Paris. (Credit: Courtesy of Figs)

In the mid-2010s, Jason Kidd and Kweku Smith, PhD, overlapped at the Milwaukee Bucks, the former as head coach and the latter as the NBA team’s psychologist. According to Smith, Kidd, a two-time Olympian who helped the U.S. men’s basketball team win gold in 2000 and 2008, would challenge the players and other coaches by asking how they could get better every day. Kidd eventually turned the question on Smith: What was his dream?

“I said, ‘Well, maybe one day, me and you go back to the Olympics—you as a coach and me as the team psychologist—and we win another gold medal,’” Smith tells Fortune, noting he’d been half-joking. “For it to really come back full circle, but in a different manner, was a manifestation, a dream come true.”