Three years after the Tokyo Olympics marked by the live collapse of American gym superstar Simone Biles, the question of the mental health of athletes is gradually coming out of the unsaid and Europe is trying to catch up.
At the World level, “nearly 1 in 3 athletes experience symptoms of mental illness“, recently estimated Marion Leboyer, psychiatrist and general director of FondaMental, a scientific cooperation foundation, citing in particular anxiety, depressive or eating disorders.
This foundation will soon reveal the results of an ongoing study on French athletes.
The vast majority of athletes who talk about their torments, such as post-Olympic blues or depression, often do so after their career. But a few are now speaking out actively.
Since she gave up part of the Olympic competition in Japan in the summer of 2021 because she suffered from a problem of losing her bearings in space putting her in physical danger, gymnast Simone Biles often brings up the subject of mental health on the table and goes to therapy.
Climbing and eating disorders
More recently, Slovenian climbing star Janja Garnbret called for awareness about eating disorders in her discipline to prevent young climbers from falling into anorexia and bulimia while wanting to become more light.
Under pressure, the International Climbing Federation has put in place new regulations to monitor the health of competitors.
For its part, the French Rugby Federation (FFR) recently announced a plan to better prevent and treat depression likely to promote addictions.
Overall, high-level sport “gives meaning to life” and athletes have “fewer suicidal thoughts”, explains psychiatrist Julien Dubreucq, member of FondaMental, to AFP. But, he explains, “this is a population that has more anxiety disorders, more risk of depression and sleep disorders“.
It also points out the blind spot of 12-18 year olds, budding champions who do not always achieve their dreams.
“There is also the anxiety of being selected or not if we have spoken about mental health difficulties“, adds this psychiatrist who works on stigma. For him, “testimonies of recovery help”, even if depression remains wrongly associated with weakness of character.
While Europe was not ahead on this largely taboo issue, “things have changed,” assures former fencer Astrid Guyard, secretary general of the French Olympic Committee (Cnosf).
“With the athletes, we pushed to bring ourselves up to par with the other delegations, it's true that they had already taken into account the psychological dimension“, she explained to AFP.
Psychologists in the Olympic Village
This summer, there will be two psychologists in the performance house dedicated to the French team, located next to the Olympic village, who will also be available for coaches, she indicated. A total of four “welfare officers” will be responsible “psychological well-being of athletes from the French delegation” at the village.
After the Biles affair at the Tokyo Games and in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) mobilized “welfare officers” for the Beijing Winter Olympics the following year.
At the Paris Games, good practices on social networks, where athletes can be subject to cyberharassment, will also be supported.
“In talking with former athletes, I realized that very few were not depressed during their career, then once they stopped“, triple Olympic champion Marie-José Pérec recently told La Tribune on Sunday.
After abruptly leaving Sydney before the Olympic competition in 2000, her West Indian grandmother ordered her to explain herself publicly – which she did – and then “to go see a psychologist” – which she did not “didn’t do it,” she says.
From June, athletes will benefit from an online “toolbox” on mental health as well as access to the government system “my psychological support”, announced the Minister of Sports and Olympics Amélie Oudéa-Castéra.
She said that she also wanted to “better supervise and recognize” the profession of “mental trainer”, intended to improve performance, an unregulated profession which includes experts, but also real charlatans.
