Team USA take proactive approach on mental health at Beijing Games

2022 Beijing Olympics – Determine Skating – Crew Occasion – Pair Skating – Free Skating – Capital Indoor Stadium, Beijing, China – February 7, 2022. Alexa Knierim of the US and Brandon Frazier of the US react after their efficiency. REUTERS/Phil Noble

BEIJING, Feb 8 (Reuters) – United States Olympic officers stated they realized classes from the Tokyo Video games on supporting athletes’ psychological well being, taking a proactive method in Beijing the place isolation and COVID-19 fears have piled on extra stress.

Gymnast Simone Biles, a four-time gold medallist, rewrote the playbook on psychological well being in Tokyo, championing athlete wellbeing in a dialog as soon as seen as taboo that nonetheless resonated from the Summer time Video games to the Winter. read more

The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) carried out psychological well being screens round anxiousness and despair final 12 months to get a way of the place athletes have been previous to the Beijing Video games and have introduced a raft of psychological well being sources to the competitors. read more

“One of many items of suggestions we acquired after Tokyo was, ‘Effectively I did not have a disaster, so I did not attain out,'” USOPC psychological well being providers director Jessica Bartley informed Reuters.

“And so we have been attempting to be very clear that we’re not right here only for disaster. We’re there for prevention and upkeep and psychological well being.”

As if the stresses of competing on the world’s largest stage weren’t nice sufficient, opponents on the Beijing Video games deal with isolation and anxiousness over whether or not a COVID-19 constructive take a look at might scuttle their Olympic goals.

American determine skater Vincent Zhou turned the most recent to see his Olympic goals shattered by the pandemic, saying on Monday that he had withdrawn from this week’s males’s singles competitors after testing constructive. read more

“Some athletes are shedding sleep over that,” stated Bartley, employed in September 2020 in what was hailed as a “first-of-its-kind” position with the USOPC.

“A few of our athletes are even simply staying of their rooms earlier than competing so that they’ll do coaching after which simply actually form of hold to themselves and never be as engaged in a number of the actions which can be occurring within the Video games.”

Routine checks with athletes are a part of Crew USA’s holistic method, with staff constructing actions, films and video games additionally made obtainable to assist ease stress.

Bartley, a former collegiate soccer participant with a doctorate in medical psychology, stated she hopes to assist finish outdated concepts round psychological well being and efficiency.

“I used to be of the technology of athletes who would suck it up and rub some dust on it,” Bartley stated.

“What we’re truly discovering – and there’s science and literature behind (it) – is the truth that to handle a difficulty earlier than it turns into a disaster or to work with anyone round their psychological well being could make them a stronger athlete.”

Reporting by Amy Tennery in Beijing, Extra reporting by Parniyan Zemaryalai; Modifying by Jacqueline Wong

Our Requirements: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.