When it comes to sporting success stories anyone would be hard pressed to find elite athletes more impressive than Simone Biles, Bryony Page and Holly Bradshaw. But while the trio are great competitors and multiple medal winners, they are also notable for their openness about the mental health of athletes.
In summer 2021 Biles withdrew from the women’s gymnastics team final at the Tokyo Olympics saying she had lost her air sense and admitted she “was still scared to do gymnastics” months later. The pole vaulter Bradshaw voiced concerns earlier this year about damaging herself in the pursuit of sporting achievement, while the British gymnast Page has recounted struggles with “lost skills syndrome”, which, she says, fuelled anxiety leading up to the Olympics in Rio.
Even before Biles brought high-profile global exposure to the issue, the International Olympic Committee had recognised the need to support athletes and established a mental health toolkit for competitors before Tokyo. With a new Games looming into view at Paris 2024, that has been updated and new measures implemented.
The upcoming Games will be used to promote wellness and the IOC has launched a mindfulness programme providing 2,000 licences to athletes for the Calm app as a day-to-day attempt to support mental health and wellbeing. A mental fitness helpline will also be available. Moreover, any Olympian competing in Paris, and for four years afterwards, can access mental health, wellbeing, and support in their home country in more than 70 different languages. Alongside a gym, the intention is to have a mentally fit zone, a space designated for mental decompression to beat the Olympic village noise. The Games will also utilise AI to weed out abuse on social media.
Kirsty Burrows, head of the safe sport unit at the IOC, says these environments are an essential inclusion for athletes. “They should feel that there are support systems around them. They should feel if they have a concern around mental health or wellbeing or any areas, that they are able to speak up and they’re able to seek support. And there are systems in place that help them to do that,” says Burrows.
This is all part of a plan that looks to promote better mental health outcomes at all levels by 2026 with Paris 2024 acting as a barometer for how the programme develops. Burrows confirms that the IOC is implementing systems to support athletes where the governing body has direct control, such as at the Olympics, and is also helping other organisations outside those events; the national federations and national Olympic committees, to put more of a priority on “psychological safety”.
The measures this summer will build off the mental health action plan written by the IOC last July. The updates to the mental health toolkit developed by the same body in 2021 mean it outlines a step-by-step approach for sports organisations or members of an athlete’s medical entourage on how to foster “psychologically safe athletic environments”. It also has an overview of mental health symptoms and disorders as well as their prevalence at the elite level.
The psychiatrist Alan Currie, who sits on the IOC working group for mental health, has applauded the collaborative nature of the process, with some athletes becoming active ambassadors. “It’s to a large extent by the athlete and we’ve had athlete representation on the working group since its inception. Core members around the table are invaluable,” says Currie. “So I think possibly one of the best things that we’ve done in this space is to remember who sport is for and to make sure that the athlete’s voices are heard.”
Bradshaw described the post-Olympic blues in her contribution to research for an academic paper in which 14 anonymous athletes spoke about being treated as “medal-winning machines” and struggled to deal with the experience after a Games. These athletes favour the move to include them in the process.
Alongside this provision for mental health support, the IOC is working to tackle the effects of abuse and discrimination on athletes. A study published last November by the University of Stirling found abuse of female footballers, a sport at this summer’s Games, often goes unchecked on social media. This includes misogynistic and sexualised comments that, when not monitored, become normalised and acceptable to clubs and their followers. The IOC is rolling out a discovery tool to athletes and accredited media that utilises AI to recognise when there is targeted abuse. It is flagged and sent for human triage, with anything confirmed as abuse then removed from the platform before the individual sees it. Any criminal content will then be sent to law enforcement. There is hope the tool can be used this summer to further insulate athletes from abuse.
Fifteen million people are expected to attend this summer’s Games in Paris as opposed to the 20,000 at the Covid-disrupted games in Tokyo, which is likely to bring its own challenges and more pressure on the athletes. But for the first time all parties seem well placed to weather the storm.
