Are post-Olympic blues real?

Attending an Olympic games is the peak of any sporting career.

But after every mountain, there's a valley and athletes are often unprepared to navigate their transition back to "ordinary life," says Christine Arthur, a former Olympian and the head of performance life at High Performance Sports New Zealand (HPSNZ) a body that works with New Zealand's best athletes.

For years, the mental challenges of athletes after the world moves on from the Olympic games have been overlooked, but more research on the impact of the"post-Olympic blues" has meant more proactive support.

"There's a big emptiness," Arthur, who competed on the New Zealand women's hockey teams 1984 and 1992 Olympics, said. "You've had goals and a drive that's been going on for four years and then suddenly it's finished."

There were almost 11,000 athletes competing in Paris and most left the games with no medal.

"The funny thing about the Olympics is that everybody goes in thinking they're going to win a gold medal. I certainly did and most people come home disappointed," Arthur said. It took her three or four years to overcome a sense of failure for her hockey team not winning a medal.

But the feelings of disappointment and deflation can strike medal winners and non-medal winners equally, said Arthur. Rather, the key to overcoming the post-Olympics blues is preparation.

US Gymnast Simone Biles, who has won seven Olympic gold medals and competed at three Olympics, talked about her post-Olympics blues in the Netflix documentary Simone Biles Rising. Biles famously withdrew from the Tokyo Olympics citing mental health as a key reason.

The Olympic dream can quickly turn into a nightmare full of "internal conflict, media intrusion, the perception of the Games as an anti-climax, feelings of isolation, and failure to meet their own and others' expectation," according to a 2021 research article on the post-Olympic Blues.

Research shows that athletes are more likely to have a positive transition if they are prepared and if they have the strong support of family, other athletes and governing bodies.

HPSNZ works with athletes on a short-term transition plan for two to three weeks following the event as well as a six-month plan. Depending on where an athlete is in their sporting career, that plan could include retirement or how to go back into another four-year cycle of Olympic preparation.

"We do a lot of work on purpose and identity, making sure that athletes understand they are more than their sport," Arthur said of the focus on balancing multiple identities like that of a parent or career person, with their sporting identity.

That plan also looks at each athlete's strengths and weaknesses as well as opportunities.

"You've been pursuing a dream that to be honest is pretty selfish so who's helped you and what do you want to give back to them?" Arthur said. This could mean carving out time for supportive spouses and children, or going back to an athlete's high school and talking to kids about sport.

Often athletes in individual sports, like athletics, can feel more lost and less supported than athletes who are in a team. "Although I can certainly say as a hockey player, I still really felt it," Arthur said.

HPSNZ's post-Olympic conference, Crossroads, helps with the transition into sporting retirement or into another four-year Olympic preparation cycle. Kiwi athletes from Paris have already signed up, including kayak gold medalist and Closing Ceremony flag bearer Finn Butcher.

Trampolinist Dylan Schmidt - who won bronze in Tokyo - attended in 2021 as did hockey player Leon Hayward.

The conference in November looks at tools to deal with the emotional highs and lows of the Olympics, and practical skills, like repackaging what athletes have learnt in sport into a new, financially viable career. It is the third Olympics that HPSNZ is running the conference with 60 athletes set to attend this year.

"It definitely is a very personal journey that athletes go on," Arthur said.