Feb 18, 2022 — The Olympics end this weekend in Beijing. For a lot of athletes, the winter games will have been the highlight of their careers. But what happens next? There’s been a lot of focus on mental health at the Olympics, but athletes may need even more support after the games are over.

Emily RussellWhat's next for Olympians? A biathlete from the Adirondacks says mental health is key

Maddie Phaneuf made her Olympic debut four years ago. The biathlete from Old Forge was dressed from head to toe in red white and blue. Techno music blasted through the packed stadium in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

“That was like the most amazing part of the whole experience," says Phaneuf.

What she and a lot of Olympians learn pretty fast, though, is that things don’t always go as planned. For some athletes at the 2022 Olympics in Beijing, it’s COVID that upends their experience.

For Phaneuf in 2018, it was a tiny scratch in her throat. On the day she was set to compete, Phaneuf tested positive for strep throat. She told her coaches she felt strong and pleaded with them to let her race. 

“This is the Olympics, I might never come here again. This is the only opportunity I have to race, can we just wait til the last second to make this decision?"

Her coaches said no. Phaneuf spent the next week at the Olympics quarantined alone in her room. That euphoric feeling at the opening ceremonies faded fast.

“It was really depressing and really sad," says Phaneuf, "and it was really hard to come home after that and talk to people about it.”

It turns out, that feeling is pretty common. Most of the athletes who go to the Olympics don’t medal, many don’t even qualify for the finals. 

“A lot of athletes fall into a deep depression after the Olympics," says Holly Brook, "because it is such a tangible goal and then after you just feel lost.”

Brooks is a two-time Olympic cross-country skier and now a licensed therapist in Anchorage, Alaska. She works a lot with professional athletes and former Olympians. Brooks says the next few weeks right after the Games are crucial.

“Athletes post-Olympics or post-retirement need a lot of support, a lot of people reminding them of their worth beyond just their athletic achievements and results,” says Brooks.

Even athletes who win gold at the games sometimes struggle. Swimmer Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian of all time, battled depression and suicidal thoughts after the games.

“For a long time I couldn’t look at myself in the mirror because I saw myself as strictly a swimmer and not as a human being and that’s scary," Phelps said at a leadership summit in 2019.

Since the Summer Games last year in Tokyo, American athletes have had access to a dedicated team of counselors at the Games and other mental health resources like wellness and meditation apps. Dr. Jessica Bartley is the director of mental health services for the U-S Olympic and Paralympic Committee. 

“So we’re offering individual therapy, group therapy," says Bartley. "We do have groups that are getting together post-games. It’s just an additional resource for you to be at your best, so I think that is something that we’ve really tried to normalize.”

Athletes have also been working to normalize mental health issues. Gold medalists like Simone Biles and Chloe Kim have been open about the anxiety that comes with Olympic ambitions. 

For biathlete Maddie Phaneuf, that pressure was too much. At the height of her career, just months before Beijing, Phaneuf retired from the sport. She says some people wondered why.

“‘Why did you retire? The Olympics are this year, you couldn’t have just lasted that much longer?' And it’s like no, you don’t get it, like I physically couldn’t even get out of bed," says Phaneuf.

A lot has changed in the last few months. Today, Phaneuf is out at the biathlon range in Lake Placid. She’s got her hair up in a ponytail and a blue vest that says 'USA' on the back. Phaneuf fires off one round. She breathes in and then fires another round.

Phaneuf is here not as a biathlete, but as a coach. She works with kids ages 13-18 for NYSEF Nordic and does one-on-one coaching sessions as well. Today she’s working with a young high school girl, who tells Phaneuf she feels like she's rushing her shots at the range. 

Phaneuf tells her to pay more attention to the trigger, to slow down her process a bit. "I think for the rest of the shots, just trying really hard to focus on yourself,” Phaneuf says to the girl.

Coaching keeps Phaneuf connected to biathlon. As for her mental health, Phaneuf says she's going to therapy once a week and says it's still a struggle, but she's working on it.

She's glad other athletes are opening up about their own mental health struggles, and that more people seem to be listening.

“People are finally recognizing that these athletes are not superhuman and robots like everyone thinks they are," says Phaneuf. "It’s like, ‘Oh they’re a normal person who has their own mental health issues.'”

For a lot of athletes in Beijing, experts say those issues may come roaring back once the excitement of the Olympics wears off and thousands of athletes return to their normal lives.