Miscellaneous
One in three elite athletes report experiencing symptoms of anxiety and depression at some time during or post their sporting career. In the seventh and latest episode of On Side, we examine the prevalence of mental health issues in sport, sports’ duty of care to ensure the wellbeing of athletes and what’s being done to address these issues. We talk to Clinical Psychologist Mary Spillane, and our Olympic heroes, basketballer Rachael Sporn and swimmer Daniel Kowalski, about their own battles with mental health. Spillane, who is part of the AIS’s world-leading mental health referral network, says the stigma around mental health is changing. “Certainly, in the work that I’ve done, females are much more likely to access support for mental health but we know that males are increasingly starting to access that support,” she says. “There’s a lot more awareness out there now about mental health symptoms, what people might experience, so generally we think that people might actually be more likely to get help.” Two-time Olympic silver medallist Sporn, who fought back from a knee injury simply to play in Sydney in 2000, battled her own demons after Australia lost the Olympic gold medal play-off. “When we won silver you’ve lost your final match, who celebrates that in the normal world,” she says. Losing can also have far-reaching ramifications for many athletes or teams, Sporn adds. “It goes beyond that personal failure, then Basketball Australia doesn’t get that funding because we didn’t finish well, far-reaching when you are playing for Australia at an international level because you are thinking about those things as a player because moving forward that funding was so important.” Daniel Kowalski, who has four Olympic medals to his name, ponders the question, “How do you drop your guard and show an element of vulnerability that doesn’t compromise performance?” If he could have any of his swims over again it would be the 400m freestyle, he says, “because I had that perfect combination of speed and endurance, it was what sat between my ears that let me down”. In our segment From the Highlight Reel, we re-live the 1500m freestyle event at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic, where Daniel snatched silver. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.