“The security guards had to take us off the pitch in the end – we wanted to take in every minute. There’s a massive ringing noise when a big cheer goes in. It’s just a huge spectacle.”
Tipperary hurler Conor Stakelum describes what it felt like to win the All-Ireland senior hurling title this summer in front of a roaring crowd at Croke Park. “It’s the kind of thing you dream of.”
What happens when you wake up from this dream the next day, and the day after that?
Your ears may still be humming, but the cheering has stopped and it’s back to the grind. “I remember that first day back to work after the All-Ireland thinking, ‘Oh my God, it’s all over, and I just want to go back to that day’,” says Stakelum.
RM Block
In the world of elite sports, the transition from thundering stadiums and euphoric wins to ordinary life can be a huge psychological comedown. Athletes can struggle with anxiety and aimlessness when the rigid structure of training gives way to vast expanses of unplanned time. They can experience a crisis of identity outside of sport and a lack of motivation when nothing feels as satisfying as competing.
Dr Kate Kirby, who has participated in five Olympics cycles as a psychologist with Team Ireland, works closely with athletes to help them navigate this emotional turbulence. There was such little research of this area in sports literature, says Kirby, that psychologists had to look towards military literature around the reality of people coming home from war and how they settled back into normal life after such a strange and unique experience.
This phenomenon gained recognition after the 2016 Olympics and was prompted by tragedy when boxer Darren Sutherland took his own life. Boxer Kenneth Egan was very public about his struggles with addiction in the aftermath of winning medals.
The term “post-Olympics blues” is now part of psychological literature. “The system had to look at how we look after these athletes after they come home,” says Kirby.
Ireland is one of the first countries in the world to set up a post-Olympic Games support programme offering check-ins with athletes to help them make sense of the experience. Kirby says they see a spike in demand for these services about six weeks after the games when the reality of life really sinks in.
Swimmer Mona McSharry, who took a bronze medal home for Ireland at last year’s Olympics, almost gave up swimming after hitting an emotional wall following her first Olympic Games in 2021, delayed from 2020 due to Covid-19.
“Going into my first Olympics in Tokyo, everything is exciting and new, and I was really buzzing to be an Olympian,” says McSharry. “Afterwards, I knew we could talk to a psychologist about the post-Olympic comedown, but I literally had one week before starting training again and I didn’t think I’d experience this lull. Instead, in my mind I had no option but to keep pushing forward.
“I just woke up one morning and started crying. I immediately called my friends and told them I just wasn’t happy. We came to the realisation that it was to do with swimming.”
Kirby says there’s personal and systemic factors for the emotional turmoil experienced by athletes after competing at such a high level. “The system that supports the athlete on a day-to-day basis tends to disappear after a major event. Training groups disband, staff take time off, so the athlete’s social contact with people changes.
[ Olympic mixed zone leads to a familiar churn of emotionsOpens in new window ]
“From a personal perspective, an athlete’s routine is totally upended and their whole life is in a state of disorganisation. It can be a period of ‘what next’ contemplation for people too, so they no longer have any clear goal that drives their motivation.
“After a big competition, people understandably want to party hard. They start to lose their fitness and to feel bad about themselves. As the news cycle moves on, the demand from media or commercial interest starts to peter out too.”
Kirby points out that this comedown isn’t exclusive to elite athletes and can impact on anyone. People preparing for significant life events that call for “tunnel vision” focus like a big exam, a wedding or marathon run, can experience an emotional crash landing. The build-up of anticipation and energy is suddenly gone, leaving a void.
Kirby works with athletes before the Olympics to help normalise what it’s going to be like in the aftermath and to put plans in place to soften the landing.
Plan ahead
“We encourage athletes to think beyond the event itself and consider what will light their fire again – spending time with family, or booking a holiday. We tell them not to wait till after the event to plan because when they’re not feeling great, they won’t be proactive enough, they’ll just continue in the slope.”
McSharry says that having a plan in place heading into the 2024 Olympics was a gamechanger. “I told myself that regardless of the result, I was going to take a long break after the Paris Olympics. I had these big goals for the games, but knowing that there was something else to look forward to, like planning a road trip with my friend, made the experience very different this time.”
Stakelum agrees that even making small plans can counterbalance the emotional drop after a big competition.
“If I wasn’t sitting well with it, I could go get a coffee, just reset and take some time to write down a couple of next steps, like what I had to do that day in work. To see yourself ticking tasks off the page can bring a little more balance,” he says.
Find routine
“In the run up to a competition, every minute in an athlete’s week will be scheduled, so it’s very hard to adjust to having no schedule at all afterwards,” says Kirby.
“We encourage athletes to continue with some form of routine, even if it’s not 25 hours of training a week. Go for a sea swim or do a yoga class and have touch points in your day where you’re accountable or you have a plan.”
McSharry says she aims to get back into a normal routine after a big competition. “I’m excited to cook my own meals and walk the dog and just get back to normal.”
New meaning
An important part of managing the post-achievement slump is finding a sense of self and purpose beyond the event.
Kirby says the Sport Ireland Institute runs non-sports-related events for athletes, from barista training to cooking courses, to take the intense focus off the sport and encourage a “shift in perception”.
She adds that the best way to make sense of an experience is to talk about it with someone. “The more you keep it inside and think you’re the only one who’s ever felt like this, the worse it will feel for you. If you talk about it, when the feeling hits, you’ll know what to expect, instead of wondering and worrying.”
Stakelum says: “It’s important to not let everything hinge on the sport, and realising that it doesn’t last forever helps you focus on other areas in your life. If your whole life is hinged on that moment of winning, you’re never going to get that exact moment again.
“What I’ve learned is that when you’re down, you won’t feel like that forever. Don’t be hard on yourself for feeling a certain way. You need to be able to come down to go back up.”
