Athletes Barbara Timo and Ines Henrix and former athlete Vanessa Fernandez were among the figures who attended Friday’s inaugural symposium on mental health in highly competitive sports, which took place at the Lisbon Forum.
The topic has gained more importance during the Covid-19 pandemic, but some highly competitive athletes have already revealed mental problems previously, mostly caused by the stress of competition.
In 2021, Vanessa Fernandez admitted that she suffered from bulimia and depression and that she would already be ill when she won the silver medal in the triathlon in Beijing 2008. Judoka Barbara Timo also revealed that the period of the epidemic led her to a diagnosis of depression, the same diagnosis revealed by the march, Ines Henrix, who said she suffered from depression and had to seek help before running the World Cup in 2021.
“A year ago, we were talking about Simone Biles. She had the power to warn about this problem, but this is a balloon that will deflate and the fact that it happened. In fact, it is necessary to have a memory in order to have a history, it is necessary to create a sustainability of the topic Our association has a civic role, a social responsibility, and we feel the need to bring in civil society,” said Luis Monteiro, President of the Association of Olympic Athletes of Portugal (AAOP), the promoter of the event.
The symposium was divided into three moments, with the aim of highlighting the key stages in an athlete’s life: pre-competition, where relationships in sport were explored, such as the father-trained athlete triad, the competition itself, which focused on managing expectations, post-competition and the identity of the unrepentant athlete. longer compete.
On this occasion, it was emphasized that one of the main factors for the development of deep diseases is the time it takes athletes to accept the problem and seek help.
“There is stigma regarding these problems in the whole population, but with regard to athletes, where expectations are very high, there is a lot of stigma and discrimination, and it is often the athlete himself who is stigmatized and ashamed,” said Maria Joao Heitor, president of the Portuguese Psychiatric Association. and mental health, partner in the event.
Ines Henrik spoke about the run-up to the 2021 World Cup and the importance of psychological help throughout the process: “Last year I could have fixed my shoes, because they took the race off me (the 50 km rally), but I am very stubborn, if last year there was a race for women and another for men, Not 50, but 35 kilometers, it’s because I fought for it. ”
“We still don’t know what the Olympics will be like, it’s a disrespect for us athletes, but I’m still struggling to go to Paris. It’s not always easy,” said the 42-year-old protester, who has expressed her desire to end her career in Paris 2024, But I am trying to do a different psychological management and try to maintain balance.
Barbara Timo spoke about the gold medal she won at the Grand Slam in Paris in 2021, the first after depression, and explained the methods she uses to combat the most negative thoughts.
“I never imagined that at the age of 31, I would win a medal in a new category. This happened as a result of my defeats. (…) I do a lot of consultations with the sports psychologist at the club and I have a “brain coach”, because although I do not doubt my abilities Currently, I still have doubts about what it means to be a woman and to be an athlete, about what I will do next – a career, things to discuss with a psychologist,” he said.
The judoka added that with the “coach” she deals “more with short and medium-term goals”, as well as practicing yoga and meditation “to gain body awareness.”
“My fear makes me study opponents more, makes me study more, forces me to go to the psychiatrist and cry, because that’s what I do there to express my fears and doubts. Fear makes me the first to arrive at training and the last to leave. All this so that the day of the competition is a day of celebration.” .
Vanessa Fernandez talked about her career and how difficult it is to accept the problem.
“2017 was an important year, because when I said that’s enough. And that was so complicated. The help that was there for me, at that time, I couldn’t fathom, because I didn’t trust her and because I felt like no one understood me, plus the enormous shame I felt its,” he began by saying.
The Olympic runner-up spoke about the fact that everyone sees the athlete as a reference and about the difficulty he has in communicating how he feels: “I had to start a process of self-knowledge, it has been my job for the past five years, to know my history and my past.”
Rosa Motta, the Olympic marathon champion in Seoul 88, was present as a spectator, and on this topic, she said that she did not suffer from mental disorders during the competition, but it highlights the importance that the topic is beginning to gain.
“I’ve never felt the need for this kind of help. I’ve always loved training, I’ve always loved competition, I’ve always understood competition as a challenge and I’ve never been afraid of my challenges and I think I’ve done well,” said the former marathon runner, now 64, He regretted that these initiatives did not take place for a longer period.
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