Mental health, preparation even more important for 1st-time Olympians in Beijing
Professional help a 'key component' to good mental state, biathlete Dickson says
American snowboarder Chloe Kim cradled the gold medal she had won in the women's snowboard halfpipe event on Thursday and talked about the pressure she felt to perform.
"Take care of yourself, put yourself first, acknowledge that what you're doing is not easy and [that] there's a lot pressure and people expect a lot out of you — that's not normal at all," Kim said. "What is normal is to struggle with those types of pressures, like I did this morning."
Kim's words echo the words of other sports superstars recently — most particularly tennis star Naomi Osaka and gymnast Simone Biles — acknowledging the price the pursuit of athletic excellence takes on their mental health.
""I think Simone [Biles] and Naomi Osaka, what they did was a very nice reminder that we're all human," Kim said. "Everyone goes through things, everyone struggles with mental health. It's not [an] easy thing to overcome."
These Olympics have come with challenges that have increased the strain on mental health. A global pandemic and calls for boycotts because of alleged human rights violations by its Chinese hosts added to the struggles athletes face in their mental preparation for the world's biggest sporting stage.
For Kim, this is her second Olympics — and her second gold after winning the same event four years ago in Pyeongchang — and she still speaks of the pressure an athlete feels at a Games. That is only amplified for someone competing at their first Olympics.
For Canadian bobsledder Dawn Richardson Wilson, it's been a whirlwind of emotions as she prepares for her two-woman event on Feb. 18.
"First arriving in the village, as well as opening ceremonies, I went through adrenaline and happy tears and remembering how hard it was to get here," the 22-year-old said. "When those were over, I had to refocus and be like, 'yes I know why I'm here, but now I actually need to perform. I need to be in the right mindset for my team and my pilot.'
"It's been good arriving earlier to let those emotions die down. It will come back up and I think that will help me perform even better."
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The pressure to perform is among the top things athletes must deal with mentally, and the scope of an Olympics only adds to that.
"It's hard to ignore the fact that this is the biggest sporting stage that there is," Dickson said. "There's definitely a bit of pressure that every athlete is putting on themselves. That's what it comes to working with professionals and trusting your training and focusing on the process. I think those are the best ways to counter that pressure and take it one step at a time."
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Working with professionals, importance of resilience
Dickson admits she sometimes struggles with anxiety, but finds speaking with a professional, in her case sports psychologist Dr. Karen MacNeill, is a "really key component" to having a good mental state.
She said helping athletes have the resilience to withstand everything that comes their way is key.
"When we look at mental fitness, resilience skills — it's giving the athlete a variety of mental skills and mental tools to be able to handle the pressure, tolerate the stress, navigate through challenges and be able to perform," she said. "These are things such as activation management, ability to optimize focus, [and] how to build trust and confidence.
"I think the other piece is the meaning they make of being at the Olympics and the pressure and the expectations they may feel. Doing a lot of work around what this is about for that individual, what is the meaning, what is the key objective and goal, and helping them to get familiar with the emotional reaction they may have once you're on the ground."
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As far as the difference between working with first-time Olympians versus those who are veterans to the big stage, MacNeill said the types of pressure differs but it all comes down to strategy.
"Really looking at their performance plan in this context, given the differences. Their social media plan, their own media plan – how they're going to respond to reporters," she said. "There's a few different things in this context that we just want to make sure they have a plan. Having that plan makes them feel a sense of control over their experience.
"For the four-time Olympian, that's different too. I've worked with individuals where their last Games, they came fourth. And this one, just being off that podium, they really have something to prove, so there's more pressure there. So it's the same thing around that emotional regulation and the meaning and what they're trying to achieve here and then, what are the skills they need to be able to regulate and manage those situations."
