Olympic Athletes Talk Openly About Post-Olympics Depression

Michael Phelps on the Post-Olympics Letdown

"If your whole life was about building up to one race, one performance, or one event, how does that sustain everything that comes afterward? . . . Eventually, for me at least, there was one question that hit me like a ton of bricks: Who was I outside of the swimming pool?"

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Sasha Cohen on Why Athletes Hide Their Pain

Image Source: Getty / Franck Fife

"Athletes most likely don't get help for depression or mental health issues because they can't even admit that it's an issue. That is so fundamentally at odds with being a competitor. This is war. It's a game of strategy. It's a game of maneuvering and posturing. You need to show the world that you are strong."

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Gracie Gold on What It Was Like to Have Depression

Image Source: Getty / Matthew Stockman

"It was like my life was a snow globe, and I could look in and I could see everything that was happening, but I couldn't be involved. There was just this wall separating me from the rest of the world."

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Jeremy Bloom on What It's Like to Fail in the Public Eye

Image Source: Getty / Fabrice Coffrini / Staff

"Unless you're an Olympic athlete, it's difficult to understand when you fail at the Olympics what a big deal that is. From an outside perspective, you can say, 'Oh, big deal. You're an Olympian. People have bigger problems.' And that is true. But for Olympians, that's your life. That's really what defines you."

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Michael Phelps on How Olympic Athletes Are Viewed by Those Around Them

Image Source: Getty / Ian MacNicol

"I don't think anybody really cared to help us. I don't think anybody really jumped in to ask us if we were OK. As long as we were performing, I don't think anything else really mattered."

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Gracie Gold on the Mental Health Crisis That's Threatening Olympic Athletes

Image Source: Getty / Matthew Stockman

"We all seem like something's fine until we get to that one breaking point, where either we're fortunate enough for somebody to see us, or we're not lucky, and we die . . . I don't think that they're maliciously ignoring our well-being, I just don't know that they realize it's, like, a full crisis yet. How many more dead Olympians do they need before they realize that there might be an epidemic here?"

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Lolo Jones on the Lack of Support Given to Athletes in Retirement

Image Source: Getty / Streeter Lecka / Staff

"I've given my blood, sweat, and tears, I've given my talent, and all I'm asking is that after it's all said and done, someone can help me mentally get through this."

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