Olympic athletes are used pressure. A handful of athletes from each country are selected as medal contenders before every Games. Their faces are plastered on billboards, newspapers, and yogurt ads.WIRED UK Original story.They are coached by performance coaches and sports psychologists to help them cope with the expectation. The Tokyo Olympics presented unique challenges that were impossible to prepare for. Some athletes feel the pressure, even without their support networks.The uniqueness of these Games is that they have placed the mental health and well-being of athletes at the forefront. Simone Biles, a US gymnast, has pulled out of two events due to concerns about her mental state. Naomi Osaka, a Japanese tennis star and face of these Olympics, also cited her mental well-being after she was knocked out in the singles tournament. These athletes won't be the first to face these problems.Josie Perry, a sports psychologist, has seen a significant rise in calls from people seeking help for performance anxiety. She says that anxiety is much more common in people who live with so many different lifestyles. Some environments can push us closer towards the edge: Being in a new environment, being around people who annoy us or being in a panic attack, being hungry, and being in an epidemic.Anxiety can cause performance to be affected by what is known as an amygdala hijack. By short-circuiting primitive brain areas, stress hormones flood the body and bypass more rational parts. This can cause panic, fight, flight or freeze responses. Athletes may also be more focused on tasks that should be simple and easy. Anxiety can affect their performance but it can also cause emotional distress that is now being recognized.Few people could have imagined the scale of the pandemic when Covid-19 was first discovered. Athletes whose training was scheduled to peak in 2020 faced the problem of not having access to the right equipment and venues. They also had to deal with the possibility of contracting the virus and the long-term consequences of returning to active training too soon.Only in the past month have we been able to predict whether the Games will actually take place in 2021. Psychological stress is created when there's uncertainty in a situation. This is according to David Shearer, a professor of elite performance psychology at The University of South Wales. While some athletes are able to thrive off uncertainty and rise to the challenge, others may feel it can impact their well-being.The Games environment is very different from what athletes expected. From the holding camps they were put in upon arrival to the lack of support staff who are now behind a video conference, the absence of any staff at all. The athletes may become distracted by their home situation or compare themselves to other competitors. Is their training affected? Shearer states that this opens up the possibility for negative thinking to spiral out of control. It is then up to the individual's ability to deal with these thoughts.Jade Jones from Great Britain, who was the favourite to win the women's taekwondo tournament, lost in round 16. My whole family is there, so when I feel scared, they cheer me on. Today, I was in fear mode.
