Olympian Apolo Ohno on the pressure to compete and prioritizing mental health

Millions of people are closely watching the performance of Olympic great Simone Biles as she competes for gold. Biles has also helped open the door wider to conversations around mental health and the incredible pressure to compete. Amna Nawaz discussed that with Apolo Ohno, the most decorated American Olympian of the Winter Games.
Geoff Bennett:
Millions of people are closely watching the performance of Olympic champion Simone Biles as she competes for gold.
Biles’ stunning athletic feats are the primary reason, of course, but she has also helped open the door wider to conversations around mental health and the incredible pressure to compete, as have other Olympic greats like Michael Phelps, Naomi Osaka, and Jamie Anderson.
Amna had a conversation just before the Games began with Apolo Ohno, the most decorated American Olympian of the Winter Games. He’s now an entrepreneur and motivational speaker.
Amna Nawaz:
Apolo Ohno, welcome back to the “News Hour.” Thanks for joining us.
Apolo Ohno, Olympic Medalist:
Thanks for having me.
Amna Nawaz:
So, you are so respected and so admired, not only by so many fans, but also by so many athletes looking to follow in your footsteps.
I’m curious, have any of this year’s Olympians reached out to you looking for advice? And if so, what kind of questions do they ask you?
Apolo Ohno:
Well, I mean, first off, I’m honored that you would say that. My competing days feel like a lifetime ago, and I get probably just as excited as anyone else who’s watching this new or resurging group of athletes go and compete again in Paris.
I don’t communicate with that many of this — I would say this team. Obviously, I’m a Winter Olympic athletes, so a lot of my existing relationships go back into that realm. But I will be in Paris and I will be cheering those athletes on.
And it will be very interesting to see, given all of what has happened over the past four years globally, both on terms of what is in these athletes’ minds, how they prepared, the entire landscape of the world, how much have people gone through in terms of resilience, and it’s — I think we need these Games. We need these Games badly.
Amna Nawaz:
What do you mean by that when you say we need these Games and especially for these athletes who, as you say, have been coming out of these last few years, when we know we have seen a worsening of a mental health crisis?
I know this is something you talk about a lot and resilience. What are you looking for in these athletes? What do you want to see?
Apolo Ohno:
Well, I think we saw this conversation around the destigmatization of the word mental health and people who suffer or are in a place where they feel like they don’t have the resources, they don’t have access, and that they’re not OK.
And there’s usually a long lag that is associated with that. And I think that we’re seeing obviously all the effects with social pressure of these different tribal kind of extreme views and subscriptions to whatever belief systems that you have.
And it feels like sort of fractured time in society. And the beautiful part about what the Olympics is supposed to embody and stand for is this unification globally around providing a platform for these athletes to showcase their best physicality and their best mental component.
And, as we saw, some of the greatest athletes in the world bowing out of competition at the height of their — in the peak of their careers, and it took back some by surprise. And so the Games are required and needed, I believe, because sport is a unifier. It is a place that brings the world together and at least gives us a two-week period of time where we can breathe, we can cheer, we can see the amazing feats of these amazing men and women from around the world.
Amna Nawaz:
What was it like when you were coming up? Could you have conversations around mental health?
Apolo Ohno:
Well, I think, obviously, with every athlete that is retired — I’m 14 years retired now. And I kind of look back at my career and I say, well, back when I did in my day, it was a very different conversation.
But the reality is, the resources were not at the priority of what the athletes needed, required. Or, to be completely frank, we didn’t know what that even meant. The words mental health really was mental performance. That’s where we focus a lot of our time.
The prize is obviously very important. That’s why there’s only three spots on a podium, gold, silver and bronze. We pay attention to that medal count more so ever today than we did in the past. But we can never lose sight of the powerful form of the journey to get there, because I can tell you, almost 15 years retired, when I look back on my career, I don’t really remember standing on top of the podium.
The memories are there. They’re ingrained. But the most powerful were the times when no one was watching, when it was behind the curtain, when it was me against myself, digging, striving, trying to find that extra 1 percent.
And I think that’s what people can derive from these experiences, is that, while we might not always be able to control these outcomes, in that process is where the true prize can actually be.
Amna Nawaz:
Tell me more about your own personal experience then, because when you go all in, as you have to, to compete at that level, what does it mean for you when you decide to change paths, as you did when you decided to retire, to leave this sport that had defined so much of you for so long? What was that like?
Apolo Ohno:
Yes, if I can give you an example, I wrote a book called “Hard Pivot,” and there’s a chapter in the book and it’s called “The Great Divorce.”
And, imagine — and everyone will go through some significant hard pivot, some loss of identity or loss in general, a loved one, a situation, financial hardship, some hardship. And that great divorce that I’m speaking from experience was in the back of my head.
I have to tell you, there had been hundreds of people that had said, Apolo, prepare for what you will do after sport. And in my head, I could not wrap my head around what I wanted to do post-sport. There wasn’t anything I wanted to do. I felt like my purpose, my being, my entire ethos on this planet was to go around in circles on these speed skates wearing these superhero outfits, right?
I didn’t know how ridiculous that really meant back then, but that’s that was the power of belief in that moment. But when you retire, either by force or by choice, those guardrails go flat. And now you have the athlete kind of swimming in the sea of unknown. They don’t know who they are. They don’t know what skill set that they have developed yet. There has been no professional coaching.
And many have put off any collegiate or academic studies, in lieu of pursuing their dream of becoming and representing the United States at the Olympic Games. And that comes with some sort of a cost, as with everything in life. And so for me, there was no plan B.
And so for all of those athletes who will be going into Paris, into these Olympic Games and preparing for the retirement after, nothing that I will say to them will resonate until those feelings of quiet, of solemn, when all the lights have dissipated, when the sponsors are no longer calling, when the agent has gone on to the next great athlete, the next great story, and you’re left with yourself.
But they have to remember that within this is this untamed potential and reservoir of opportunity that they have to restart again.
Amna Nawaz:
Apolo Ohno, still out here leading and inspiring so many people in the ways you do, thank you so much. It’s always a pleasure to speak with you.
Apolo Ohno:
Thank you. Nice talking to you.