Inside the Mental Health of Elite Athletes

With Simone Biles' withdrawal from the Tokyo Olympics due to mental health issues, the subject of the pressure, stress, and expectations placed upon high-profile athletes has been at the forefront of the conversation. There have been many athletes who came out in support of Biles, including tennis star Naomi Osaka and the most decorated Olympian of all time Michael Phelps, each of whom has dealt with mental health struggles.

Mental health is a major issue in athletics for a lot of reasons: the amount of pressure placed on athletes to perform, the stress to constantly meet expectations, the sacrifice it takes to compete at the highest level, and the lack of coping away from the sport, just to name a few. In this episode, I hope to bring to light the many difficulties and challenges that these athletes struggle with.