{"id":627457,"date":"2026-10-11T16:10:23","date_gmt":"2026-10-11T16:10:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/627457\/"},"modified":"2026-10-11T16:10:23","modified_gmt":"2026-10-11T16:10:23","slug":"different-voices-shared-challenges-mental-health-in-athletics-feature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/627457\/","title":{"rendered":"Different voices, shared challenges: mental health in athletics | FEATURE"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was a fleeting exchange at a press conference, but it touched on a much wider issue.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Speaking at the World Athletics Relays in Gaborone earlier this year, Zaynab Dosso and Elaine Thompson-Herah were both asked about the mental side of elite sport.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Italian sprinter Dosso was clear about the importance she places on it. \u201cIt\u2019s very important to speak about mental health,\u201d said the world indoor 60m champion. \u201cYou can train however many hours you want, but if your head doesn\u2019t follow then you\u2019re not going to get anywhere.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cLast September I started working with a psychologist. Every single athlete should take care of their mental health because it\u2019s just as important as their physical health.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The same question was then put to Thompson-Herah. \u201cComing back from injury has been challenging, mentally and physically,\u201d said the five-time Olympic champion.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I\u2019m a tough cookie. I\u2019ve never been to therapy, I don\u2019t believe in it. I\u2019m my own therapy. I do believe in God, though. I also have a supportive team who believes in me, and I believe in myself.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The contrast was striking. Both athletes acknowledged the mental challenges of elite sport, yet they had very different ideas about how to deal with them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Across a sport spanning more than 200 countries, there are inevitably huge differences in the way mental health is understood, discussed and treated. Professional psychological support may be commonplace for some athletes. Others may turn first to family, friends, teammates or coaches. Elsewhere, stigma, lack of awareness or limited access to services can make the route to support far less straightforward.\u00a0<\/p>\n

US 800m runner Juliette Whittaker has spoken with remarkable openness about her own experience. During her time at Stanford University, Whittaker won two individual NCAA titles before qualifying for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Her results suggested a young athlete whose career was progressing almost perfectly.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Juliette<\/p>\n

Juliette Whittaker in action at the US Olympic Trials (\u00a9 Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The reality was very different. She later described it as the \u201chardest, saddest and loneliest\u201d year of her life.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After winning her first NCAA title, the happiness had disappeared by the following day. After the second, it lasted less than an hour. Whittaker responded by setting herself another target, believing that perhaps reaching the Olympics would finally make her feel differently. It didn\u2019t.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI truly believed that if I ran well enough, achieved enough, proved myself enough, I would finally feel enough,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Instead, her sense of self-worth became increasingly tied to her performances. When running stopped providing the fulfilment she expected from it, she struggled to know where else to find it. After returning from Paris, her mental health deteriorated further. Feelings of emptiness became guilt and shame, and she stopped telling people how badly she was struggling.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In May 2025, Whittaker attempted to take her own life.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Friends found her and took her to hospital. She spent a week in a psychiatric unit and later attended group therapy three days a week, while also taking the longest break from running she had ever had.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Whittaker credits the people around her with playing a huge part in her recovery. \u201cAt a time when I had completely given up on myself, I had villages of people who refused to give up on me,\u201d she said, speaking at Stanford\u2019s GameFaces event earlier this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOne year ago, I was in a hospital bed with absolutely no desire to live,\u201d she added. \u201cToday I\u2019m standing in front of you.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Her experience also changed the way she viewed athletics. \u201cRunning is a huge part of my life,\u201d she said. \u201cBut it is not all of me. It is not the source of my worth.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

After spending so long keeping her feelings to herself, she had learned another lesson: \u201cAsking for help is one of the bravest things you can do.\u201d But asking for help assumes an athlete recognises what is happening to them, feels able to talk about it and knows where to turn.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Research in recent years has examined some of those barriers in different parts of the world.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A 2025 paper on mental health among elite runners in Kenya<\/a> highlighted the importance of cultural and socioeconomic context. Its authors pointed to issues including the availability, accessibility and affordability of mental-health services, and cautioned against assuming that approaches developed in wealthier countries can simply be transferred elsewhere.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A separate 2024 study involving 20 Chinese elite athletes<\/a>, as well as coaches and team officials, found that cultural attitudes and sporting environments could influence whether athletes sought help. Participants spoke about issues including depressed mood, competition anxiety and sleep problems, while stigma \u2013 including fears of being regarded as weak \u2013 was among the barriers identified. Athletes were often more comfortable turning first to teammates, friends or parents than to formal mental-health services.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kenya\u2019s Wilfred Bungei recognises some of that from his own experience. The 2008 Olympic 800m champion has spoken openly about his problems with alcohol and mental health after his competitive career ended.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Wilfred<\/p>\n

Wilfred Bungei in action at the 2008 Olympics (\u00a9 Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Among his wake-up calls were missing important engagements because he had been drinking, and realising that his children were uncomfortable being in the car with him when they knew he was drunk. Looking back 10 years or more, Bungei says alcoholism and mental-health problems in Kenya were often seen as matters of personal choice.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople with mental-health problems were stigmatised,\u201d he says. He believes attitudes have improved since then and there is now more empathy, although some of that stigma remains.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe talk behind the scenes doesn\u2019t indicate a society that has fully embraced mental-health issues,\u201d he says. \u201cMost people would rather suffer from the inside than be open.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

For Bungei, his family was crucial in recognising that he needed help. \u201cFamily is the first pillar,\u201d he says. \u201cIf one\u2019s family accepts that this person is sick and needs help, the individual wouldn\u2019t care much about what society says because they know, \u2018I have people who care\u2019.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

He has sometimes compared alcoholism with diabetes when trying to explain to people that addiction is an illness rather than simply a personal failing. \u201cThe first thing is accept who you are and don\u2019t care about the noise,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bungei also believes athletes need more help preparing for life after competition. \u201cAthletes retire early in life and they have money and plenty of free time,\u201d he says. \u201cRemember, athletes live a strict life 365 days a year as sportsmen and women.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

He says there is still no clear roadmap in Kenya to help athletes cope with that transition. He has, however, since found another role within the sport. Through his work with the World Athletics Media Academy, he says he has regained a sense of \u201cpurpose and responsibility\u201d from training as a commentator.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He hopes eventually to use that platform to speak more widely about mental-health issues affecting sportsmen and women in African countries, and what could be done to support them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Singapore\u2019s Shanti Pereira has spoken about a different kind of mental struggle during the years between her early breakthrough and her rise to the top of Asian sprinting.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Sprinter<\/p>\n

Sprinter Shanti Pereira of Singapore (\u00a9 Getty Images)<\/p>\n

After winning the SEA Games 200m title on home soil in 2015, Pereira found it difficult to deal with the expectations that followed. Results stalled, injuries followed and, in 2018, she lost both her Sport Excellence Scholarship and her university scholarship within the space of a week.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Speaking to CNA in 2022, she said that physically she still felt capable of running personal and national records, \u201cbut mentally I wasn\u2019t there\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a lot of self-doubt that kind of grew as the years went by,\u201d she said. At times she lost her motivation and became afraid of performing badly even in training.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The uncertainty extended beyond athletics. Pereira described going through an \u201cidentity crisis\u201d as she struggled for form while also questioning what she wanted to do outside the sport.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI started to believe what people said about me, that maybe I\u2019ve reached my end,\u201d she told CNA. \u201cAnd if so, who was I?\u201d Talking to people close to her helped her change that mindset.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a later first-person article for CNA, Pereira recalled reaching the point where she was \u201cso afraid of even approaching the start line\u201d, before gradually learning to separate other people\u2019s opinions from how she viewed herself.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Her career since then has taken a very different path. After defending her Asian Games 200m title in 2026, Pereira reflected on how much she had changed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cShe used to be so scared of everything \u2013 scared of her competitors \u2013 and I really let the pressure get to me last time,\u201d she said of her younger self. \u201cI\u2019m very proud of the person I\u2019ve become.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

There is increasing recognition within sport that those differences matter. The International Olympic Committee\u2019s updated 2026 consensus statement on mental health in elite athletes<\/a> recommends that treatment should be individualised, evidence-based and culturally responsive. It also highlights barriers including stigma, low mental-health literacy, concerns around confidentiality and athletes\u2019 fears about possible consequences such as deselection.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The statement stresses that responsibility does not sit only with the athlete. The environment around them \u2013 including coaches, support staff, safeguarding systems and sporting organisations \u2013 can also influence their mental wellbeing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The experiences of Dosso, Thompson-Herah, Whittaker, Bungei and Pereira are very different, and none should be taken as representative of an entire country or culture. But they show why conversations about mental health in a global sport cannot follow one template.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some athletes will readily talk about psychologists, therapy, depression or anxiety. Others may first talk about pressure, loneliness, confidence or simply not feeling like themselves. Some will seek professional treatment, while others will rely heavily on the people around them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What matters is that athletes are able to recognise when they are struggling, know that seeking support is an option, and have somewhere appropriate to turn when they need it.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was a fleeting exchange at a press conference, but it touched on a much wider issue.\u00a0 Speaking…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":627458,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[134,554,555,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-627457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mental-health","tag-health","tag-mental-health","tag-mentalhealth","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=627457"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627457\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/627458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=627457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=627457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=627457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}