– Absolutely horrible. It’s just completely empty. Completely, completely empty. That’s what shooter Jeanette Hegg Duestad says about the phenomenon that has been named “post-Olympic blues”. In Norwegian, it could be tempting to translate it into “Olympic depression”, but “Olympic depression” or “Olympic emptiness” is more correct. Because the phenomenon is not a diagnosis. But let there be no doubt: Now the decline begins for quite a few of the almost 11,000 participants in the games in Paris. Because regardless of whether the gold was brought home or not, years of training and effort have been put in to get to the Olympics. But suddenly it was over, and it’s four years until the next time. Duestad is one of many Olympic athletes who have experienced it before. After the Olympics in Tokyo in 2021, she got a real bang. – I could sleep 12-14-16 hours a day, and when I got up I just wanted to go to bed again. There was like zero energy. More powerful than expected And she is not alone. In the Tokyo Olympics, Hermann Tomasgaard took bronze in sailing. In Paris he still finished 5th. He is well aware that the attention that the Olympics will give him is like a stone in the water after the Games. – I had heard about it before Tokyo. I was a bit forewarned, but you notice that it is more powerful than you are used to. The Olympic sailor from Drøbak says that the media pressure during the Olympic Games is quite different from the other sailing championships. But what about the superstars in the biggest sports? They should also be warned. – Wouldn’t want to be alive Because even if the success is even so great, even the very biggest can get a mental blow when the Monday after the Olympics comes knocking. American Michael Phelps won 28 medals in his Olympic career. No less than 23 of them were of the noblest metal: gold. But despite the success, there were many downfalls after the summer games he took part in. – The Olympics in 2004 were my first taste of “post-Olympic blues”, Phelps told American NBC News. In the interview with the TV station, the former Olympian tells about the downfalls. First after the Athens Olympics, then the same rule after the Olympics in Beijing in 2008. But it was after the games in London in 2012 that Phelps suffered his heaviest mental break. There he had just won four Olympic golds and two Olympic silvers, but he still went straight to the basement mentally. He locked himself in his room, didn’t eat and didn’t sleep either. – I didn’t want to play sports anymore. I didn’t want to be alive, Phelps has said. At his lowest point, he even thought about ending his life. Researcher on the phenomenon That’s how serious it can be. And we have become more and more aware of this over the past few years. After the Olympics in Tokyo, Team Denmark launched a survey to find out how their athletes felt after the Games. The survey went out to everyone who had participated for Denmark. About half responded. Then Team Denmark found out that almost three out of ten athletes they send to the Olympics reported mental challenges after the Games. Either that they felt below average well with themselves or that they even felt symptoms of depression. Reuters Keely Hodgkinson (22), 800-meter runner. Silver in the Tokyo Olympics. Gold in the Paris Olympics. I was 19 years old in the Tokyo Olympics and I was on a cloud. An Olympic medal was something I had dreamed of. When I came down from the cloud I was on, it was as if the other things I used to be happy about, being with friends for example, didn’t work. I just felt sad the whole time. It was difficult. Because one ends up thinking: My life is good, what do I have to be sad about then? Reuters Siobhan-Marie O’Connor, seamstress. Sylv in the Olympics in Rio 2016 About a month after the medal in the Olympics, I remember that I was on holiday with my family, when I suddenly just started laughing. It wasn’t because I was happy – I was completely lost and thought “what now?”. I know how I felt, and how others felt, it was very hard. I felt that it made no sense to me. Everyone moved on and I didn’t get to talk about Rio anymore. Reuters Adam Peaty, seamstress. Has three Olympic golds and three Olympic silvers in his career. I experienced quite brutal “post-Olympic blues” after the Rio Olympics. I went through a great wave valley of feeling lost. I didn’t know what I was going to do with my life. I had achieved my absolute dream and Rio was the best time of my life. But no one can tell you what happens next. I believe that not enough is being done to prepare athletes for that feeling. Now Team Denmark, together with Sweden and Norway, will find out: how can we best take care of the athletes after the Olympics. Anne Marte Pensgaard is a professor of sports psychology at Norway’s Sports Academy, and is involved in the research project. After the Olympics in Paris, they will send out questionnaires to all athletes and coaches who took part in the games. First after two to three weeks. Then again after about three months. – We expect immediate reactions, but it is important to find out how long it lasts, says Pensgaard to news. SPORTS PSYCHOLOGIST: Anne Marte Pensgaard is a sports psychologist and works with the phenomenon of “post-Olympic blues”. Photo: NIH She is quite clear that she thinks it is important to be proactive and reach out to ask all athletes and trainers how they are doing. – It is easier to ask for help if someone asks you. Olympic debutante Helle Tuxen, stupI have thought about it a bit. Vilde (Helle’s sister) and my friends who have been to the Olympics have made me aware of it. Now I’m going back to the USA, have one more year and compete there. Then it will actually be just to land a little, and then in a way find out what my next goals are. I think that as long as I am open about it and find my next dreams, I think it will go very well. Heiko Junge / NTB Olympic debutante Marie-Therese Obst, javelin throw I already felt a bit of it after the EC in Rome this summer. The first weeks after the bronze medal – it was quite difficult, that is. I thought it would be more positive, but it was insanely heavy. I didn’t recognize my body during the whole shoot, it was just heavy. The head too, it wouldn’t work together. It got better after a couple of weeks. After the Olympics, I’m pretty exhausted, I think. Beate Oma Dahle / NTB Olympic debutant Ole Martin Halvorsen, shooting It is something that I think needs to be followed up quite a lot. I think that all shooters, or anyone who has actually been to the Olympics, should go to a psychologist immediately afterwards in order to reduce this as much as possible. A psychologist is the best way to get better as quickly as possible and get back to normal. And I know that we always have a psychologist on offer at Olympiatoppen. Stian Lysberg Solum / NTB Olympic debutante Isabel Freese, dressage Of course, there has been a lot of focus in recent months. But, no, I don’t think so… I have qualification for the young horse WC next week, so I actually have to hurry home and train, because I haven’t ridden the young horse for ten days, so I hope it goes well. Thank God I have a five-year-old son at home who keeps me quite busy. I think it will go well. Guitar building as medicine According to sports psychologist Anne Marte Pensgaard, it is difficult to predict which of the Olympic athletes will have mental setbacks to overcome after the Games. While Jeanette Hegg Duestad got a real bang after the Olympics in Tokyo, it wasn’t like that at all for her teammate Jon-Hermann Hegg. He returned home from Tokyo with 4th place, just like Duestad. – I haven’t had it, luckily, says Hegg about the phenomenon. After the Olympics in Paris, where he returns home with 5th place as his best result, he has made a plan for his life for the next month precisely to keep busy. He is going to Australia to visit a friend. There they will build a guitar for the shooter who is interested in music. – I think that helps me a lot. Regardless of the outcome in Paris, there is one thing or another I can look forward to, says Hegg. Little worried Olympic star Norway’s fresh decathlon star Markus Rooth has become everyone’s favorite after his slightly sensational Olympic gold. Because guitar building is not on any calendar for him. He has already turned his head on progression and training. He is not afraid of “Post-Olympic blues”. ATTENTION: Markus Rooth has received a lot of attention after the Olympic gold in the decathlon. Photo: Cornelius Poppe / NTB – After that, I’ll miss being able to compete down there and do what I think is fun. I don’t get to compete that often, so it’s also a long time between each competition, says Rooth before he continues: – I’m not really afraid of the emptiness, because I have a very good everyday life with a very secure family and secure frameworks around me which I greatly appreciated. I am not so afraid that the extraordinary attention I have now received will disappear. My weekday before this was more than good enough, says Rooth in his usual charismatic way. Jakob Ingebrigtsen says that he understands that it takes time for many to be in a bubble leading up to the Olympics, but at the same time is full of motivation after the championship. – I have never been as motivated as I am now. To feel mastery and to feel that one gets things done, there is nothing as motivating as that, he says. For Michael Phelps, he had to learn that vulnerability is a good thing, before he was able to cope with the “Olympic emptiness”. Phelps has said that it was scary at first, but he learned that vulnerability only means change. – And for me it was a good change, says Phelps, who continued his career until the Olympics in Rio in 2016 and quickly took home five more Olympic gold medals. Thus he became the greatest Olympian of all time. No one else is around. In addition to news’s own interview, the quote from Keely Hodgkinson is taken from the podcast “High Performance”. The quote from Siobhan O’Connor and Adam Peaty is taken from an article by British ITV. Michael Phelps has spoken about “post-Olympic blues” to NBC.
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The bluest Monday – from gold to zero – Sport Langlesing
