Michael Phelps remembers his name as the greatest Olympian of all time. In an interview before the swimming final on Tuesday night, he stated that he is more than just a swimming ambassador. In terms of mental health, he is still the torch for all Olympians.
In his chat with Mike Tirico National Broadcasting Corporation Before the five games of the 2020 Tokyo Summer Games Olympic Games, Phelps was asked about the sudden withdrawal of American gymnast Simon Byers at the beginning of the women’s team final the day before.
Byers is arguably the greatest American gymnast of all time. She said that mental health issues drove her to withdraw suddenly-without delving into this topic.
Phelps appeared to be more emotional on Tuesday night (Wednesday morning in Japan) than any other camera appearance during these Olympics, and this is the first time in 25 years that he has not appeared on the U.S. swimming team’s roster.
Phelps has won 28 Olympic medals in his career, including 23 gold medals. He said that the Olympics could be a huge burden for superstars like him and Byers.
“The Olympics are overwhelming. There are a lot of emotions in it. I can talk for an hour,” Phelps said. “For me, the simplest way to say is that I think athletes, as well as ordinary Olympic athletes, we need someone we can trust. A person who can let us be ourselves, listen and make us vulnerable. One who doesn’t People who come try to repair us. We have many things and burdens on our shoulders. This is challenging, especially when we are full of hope for ourselves and all expectations are thrown on us.
“We are humans and no one is perfect. It doesn’t matter if we are not perfect. It doesn’t matter if we go through the ups and downs and emotional roller coasters… I think I’m just like Simone (Byers) said, Carrying the world on my shoulders. This is a difficult situation.”
Photo by Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images
Byers never publicly stated that she was under pressure, nor did she show any signs of mental health problems. But in the past few years, she has been talking about them. Soon after she won four gold medals and one bronze medal at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, news broke that former US gymnastics team doctor Larry Nasser had sexually assaulted multiple girls and young women in the event.
Byers talked about Carollis’ rigorous training in the Houston area. They were Nadia Comaneci’s famous coaches and eventually became Americans.
Byers talked about being hungry at the Texas camp, even breaking into the camp cafeteria, sneaking food into her hoodie and returning to her room. She doesn’t like to go hungry, just like she had to pour water on the cereal because she couldn’t afford milk at home when she was a child.
Over the years, Byers has detailed these conversations.
She is expected to take a farewell trip in 2020, but COVID has delayed everything, including the Tokyo Olympics. Due to the coronavirus, the Olympics were postponed for a year and the stadium closed. She passed training, Olympic team trials, and even succeeded in the team qualifiers in Tokyo, where she flew out of bounds and fell off the vaulting horse during a routine on the court.
After she participated in the team final for the first time, she said that she had had enough that day.
Phelps said he hopes that Byers’ situation will make Olympic athletes more aware of mental health issues. They may usually be noticed once in their lives, or if they are lucky or lucky. Attention-or both.
“I hope this is an eye-opening experience, and I really did. I hope this is an opportunity for us to jump on the boat and even make this mental health issue more open. It is bigger than we have ever been before. Imagine more,” Phelps said. “It takes a lot of time, a lot of hard work and people who are willing to help.”
