When competitive athletes struggle with psychological problems, it’s no longer taboo. Nevertheless, the subject remains difficult. Numerous athletes promote a more open approach.
Six months after she gave up her great passion for athletics, Louisa Grauvogel looks both clear and relieved. “There was simply no more compromise for me,” said the 27-year-old Saarlander of the German Press Agency. At the end of October 2022, Grauvogel surprisingly announced the end of her career as a competitive athlete. She could no longer live up to her own claim.
Grauvogel was considered one of the best German all-around athletes and hurdlers. Her big goal was the Olympics. She is also studying biochemistry in Cologne and is doing her bachelor’s degree. At some point it all becomes too much for her – Grauvogel suffers a sudden hearing loss and a breakdown. For them it was ultimately the beginning of the end of competitive sport. “I noticed that I reinvest a lot in the sport but don’t really get anything out of it. I thought about it for a long time and I’ve never regretted the decision,” she says today. After discussions with her psychotherapist and her parents, there was ultimately no alternative for her.
Louisa Grauvogel can now handle it
In the ARD documentary “Real Life: Burnout of a Competitive Athlete” published in early April, Grauvogel goes over everything again. “In my bad phase, that would definitely have thrown me off track again,” she says: “But with a certain distance I found it totally refreshing and it was good for me to make it public.” She also wants to set an example: “To sensitize others to this topic – not just in terms of competitive sports.”
With US gymnastics star Simone Biles, tennis ace Naomi Osaka from Japan or cycling star Marcel Kittel, top stars have recently made psychological or mental problems public. Swimming star and record-breaking Olympian Michael Phelps revealed that after the 2012 Olympics, he developed depression and had suicidal thoughts. Since then, the 37-year-old has been supporting the mental health of athletes with his foundation.
Most recently, three-time Olympic swimming champion Adam Peaty announced that he would not be participating in the World Championships at the end of July. He has “struggled with my mental health in recent years” and “think it’s important to be honest about it,” wrote the 28-year-old Briton on Instagram.
Being open can help
Former swimmer Petra Dallmann also welcomes the fact that more and more competitive athletes are coming forward with their mental health problems. “In this way, athletes can make an enormous contribution to destigmatizing mental illnesses. When a well-known athlete talks about depression or burnout, it often gets more attention than one or the other press release from a working group for destigmatization,” says the 44-year-old.
In 2001, Dallmann won the world title in the freestyle relay, and in 2004 he won Olympic bronze in the 4×200 meter relay in Athens. Today she works as a specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy. Once a week she is at the Olympic Training Center (OSP) in Heidelberg as a sports psychiatrist and sports psychotherapist.
However, Dallmann does not want to advise athletes to “out” per se. “Everyone also has their motives why they ‘out’ – and they are very different. Finally, there are also athletes who say, ‘that would have negative consequences for me’. So that’s something I wouldn’t recommend to anyone unreservedly.” , she says. Grauvogel also confirms this: “During my playing days, I never dared to do that. You just don’t know what you’re going to do with it.”
There are limits to sports therapists
At every OSP in Germany there are sports psychologists who support the athletes. Athletes often seek help in situations where they feel overwhelmed. But there are limits. “If a case slips into the clinical area, then I have to pass it on to a therapist,” says Annika Weinkopf, cooperation partner of the OSP Hamburg/Schleswig-Holstein. As a sports psychologist, she is not allowed to work therapeutically. “The inhibition threshold to go to a therapist is still high,” says the 30-year-old.
Ex-professional cyclist Dominik Nerz also made anorexia and depressive episodes public only after the end of his career in the 2019 book “Down: A Story from Cycling”. In 2016, Mink had declared his resignation, completely exhausted mentally and physically. At times, he had starved himself down to 58 kilos and a height of 1.80 meters. In 2015 he was nominated as captain for the Tour de France by his Bora team with the aim of reaching the top 10. However, he had to give this up after several falls.
“It was very difficult for me to make decisions at the time because I was struggling on many fronts. I never got to the point of taking any time off or therapeutic help during my career,” he says in retrospect. Mink was in a psychiatric clinic for six weeks after retiring.
Increased sensitivity to mental illness
Irony of fate: Ironically, the former anorexic professional cyclist is now a chef and ran his own restaurant in Austria until a few months ago. “I’m absolutely for any kind of support when it comes to mental and psychological support in professional sports. That’s very important,” says Nerz today.
“It’s definitely easier for the athletes to talk about it when the environment is more sensitive. I have the feeling that the new generation of coaches is more aware of issues such as depression, burnout or eating disorders, also through more training on these issues,” says Dallmann.
Soccer professional Timo Baumgartl from Bundesliga club Union Berlin has also received psychological support. And that was before the 27-year-old was diagnosed with testicular cancer in May 2022. “I went to therapy before because I said to myself: The whole football system with the pressure and expectations – that can’t be healthy for a person. Anyone who goes to therapy can be proud of themselves!”, he said in the podcast “A good feeling from the feeling”.