Athletes who sought mental health help & bounced back for the Olympics

In an age where competition is fierce, and the expectation from you is to be on top of your game, three athletes stand out not only for their spectacular performance at the Olympics but for being vocal about their health issues and seeking help. 

1. Adam Peaty 

Great Britain's Adam Peaty, a swimmer who specialises in the breaststroke, is a two-time gold winner at the Olympics, an eight-time World Champion, sixteen-time European Champion, and four-time Commonwealth Champion. Peaty is also a world record holder for the 50-metre and 100-metre breaststroke events. 

In April 2023, after being in what he described as a “self-destructive spiral” stemming from personal issues, Peaty withdrew from the British Swimming Championships. Soon after he revealed that he was struggling with his mental health, and had depression, an alcohol problem, and had been diagnosed with ADHD. 

“It’s been an incredibly lonely journey. The devil on my shoulder [says], ‘You’re missing out on life. You’re not good enough. You need a drink. You can’t have what you want. You can’t be happy,’” he had said at the time. 

In a social media post, he wrote: “Very few people understand what winning and success does to an individual’s mental health. They don’t understand the pressures these individuals put on themselves to win over and over again.” 

Then, Sunday evening, Peaty went on to win silver in the men’s 100-metre breaststroke event. Peaty came second to Italy’s Nicolò Martinenghi by just 0.02 seconds. 

Peaty wrote on his Instagram: “A night full of raw emotion and sport in its true form. These last 14 months have been incredibly testing and I do not regret one training session or decision I made. I’ve continued to fight and find new ways to enjoy something that has broken me to the core and to end up with an Olympic silver through all of that is an absolute blessing. I’m more proud of the man and athlete I am from last night than I have been across my entire career.” 

2. Kimberley Woods 

British slalom canoeist Kimberley Woods is a six-time World and eight-time European Champion. Previously, Woods has won 14 medals at the European Championships, and the World Cup title in Kayak Cross in 2023. 

Woods has spoken openly about being bullied for her muscular physique as a kid, and using canoeing as an escape from the trauma. “Most of the time I owned it. I was like: ‘So what? I need strong arms for sport.’ But of course I felt self-conscious being around girls and women who don’t look like that. I spent many a bus ride home crying,” she said in an interview with the Guardian. 

“I dealt with it on my own. When I went home ... I made sure I’d have a straight face as I didn’t want anyone to see me [crying].”

In 2015, after a sport-related injury, Woods was forced to stop canoeing.

“My only outlet then was self-harming,” she says, “and it was really hard to get out of that habit. As soon as something got hard that was my immediate response because physical pain was easier than emotional pain. I kept everything to myself and hid it.”

Finally Woods came out to her coach of many years, Craig Morris, about her struggles. Morris - whom Woods calls a father figure - was patient, and put her on to a counsellor. 

Woods was admitted to the mental hospital twice, and has had suicidal ideation. “It’s been a long time since I [self-harmed]. The last time was after a race, just before the Tokyo Olympics [in 2021]. It was overwhelming racing again after Covid. But, since then, I’ve had different strategies to avoid self-harming. I still have a hairband on my wrist which I just flick and that changes the senses. Sometimes, I just need a little cry or I talk to my partner, Elliott, or Craig and we break it down and I feel calm,” she says. 

On Sunday, Woods bagged her first Olympic medal - a bronze - in the women’s kayak single (K1) final in Paris. Three years ago she had crashed out of the 2020 Olympics after her debut Olympics event did not end well for her. 

But today, she prepares for a second shot at gold as Paris 2024 debuts the kayak cross event. 

“I’m probably maybe one of the favourites in the kayak cross but I’m not thinking about that, I’m just thinking about being out there and enjoying the crowd, and I can’t wait to sit on top of that ramp.” 

3. Simone Biles 

American-Belizean artistic gymnast Biles has 7 Olympic and 30 World Championships to her name, making her the most decorated gymnast in history. 

Just ahead of the 2016 Olympics in Rio, Biles came out about having the twisties, a condition that affects gymnasts, throwing off their sense of rhythm.

“The best way I can describe it is everyday you drive a car — if one day you woke up and you had no idea how to drive a car, your legs are going crazy, you have no control of your body,” Biles had said on a podcast.

“You’ve been doing something for so long, and you now no longer have control. It’s terrifying.” 

Soon after, Biles went on a mental health break, and has since become a strong advocate for mental health. Biles was also diagnosed with ADHD as a kid, and has said, “...taking medicine for it is nothing to be ashamed of, nothing that I'm afraid to let people know.” 

“I worked on myself a lot, I still do therapy weekly, and it’s just been so exciting to come out here and have the confidence I had before,” Biles said in an interview with CNBC. 

Tuesday night, Biles will compete in four events representing her country, USA. The events include vault, floor exercise, balance beam and uneven bars. 

Because elite athletes are constantly subject to brutal public attention, many commentators, spectators and social media trolls see mental health breaks and vulnerabilities as acts of ‘quitting,’ or ‘not wanting to try hard enough.’

Their resilience, strength and will to win is called into question. 

But more athletes and sports figures speaking openly about mental health issues and illnesses goes to show that you could be in your best form and best shape physically, and still be in a bad place mentally. 

That mental health struggles and mental illness are not a sign of weakness. 

They happen to the best of us.