“A healthy mind in a healthy body”, goes the adage… Except that, like tennis champion Naomi Osaka or gymnast Simone Billes, many top athletes suffer from mental health problems.
But if some evoke their distress while they still practice their sport, others, like Michael Phelps, one of the greatest swimming champions of all time, wait until they are "retired" to do so. …
“Post-Olympic depression really exists!
It affects seventy to seventy-five percent of people, says the swimmer with 23 Olympic titles.
Because you work for four years for the Olympics and then, in thirty seconds, it's over, and you have to wait four more years again.
We feel almost lost, we no longer know what to do, where to go, or even who we are”.
“I was really very depressed, I no longer wanted to live”
If Phelps admits having been depressed during his activity, it is because for him, his results counted then more than his mental health: "During my career, I did not let anything appear because it would have been a confession of weakness.
And that would have given my competitors an advantage.
So I found ways to swallow it and pretend that everything was fine, ”he says.
“In 2014, I was really very depressed, I no longer wanted to live.
So I went to a treatment center where I was able to dive deep within myself to understand why I was the way I was, why I was carrying this weight, this stress, all these things that weighed on me.
Now I appreciate the reflection I see in the mirror,” smiles the athlete.
Discover his moving story in this video from our partner Brut.
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