- Michael Phelps won 28 Olympic medals – including 23 golds – across four Games
- ‘I had to learn that vulnerability is a good thing,’ the retired swimmer said
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Swimming legend Michael Phelps has opened up on his battle with ‘post-Olympic depression’ which left him struggling to cope with life after reaching ‘the edge of the cliff’.
Phelps won 28 Olympic medals – including 23 golds – across four Games. That haul – collected between 2004 and 2016 – makes him the most decorated Olympian of all time.
But the American faced a hidden battle with his mental health even as he left rivals trailing behind him in the pool.
The Baltimore native has lifted the lid on how he began struggling with depression back in 2004, after he won six golds and two bronze medals in Athens.
He told NBC: ‘2004 was my first taste of post-Olympic depression. Coming off such a high when basically you get to like the edge of the cliff, and you’re like: “Cool. Now what? Oh, I guess I’ve got to wait four more years to have the chance to do it again.”
Swimming legend Michael Phelps has opened up on his battle with ‘post-Olympic depression ‘
The American won 28 Olympic medals – including 23 golds – between 2004 and 2016
‘And for those who don’t have a successful Olympics, those four years can be like an absolute eternity.’
The cycle repeated itself four years later, after Phelps enjoyed even more success, picking up eight gold medals in Beijing.
‘2008 was my second taste of post-Olympic depression. Because coming off of that high after doing something you set out to do your whole entire life,’ he said.
‘My goal was to do something no one else had ever done before. I did it by the age of 19, 20, or so.’
‘I looked at it as weakness… I had to learn that vulnerability is a good thing,’ Phelps admitted
The 38-year-old he hid his struggles out of fear of ‘giving his competitors an edge’
The 38-year-old told NBC, in an interview which will air in full on Meet the Press on May 19, that he hid his struggles out of fear of ‘giving his competitors an edge’. Instead, he had to learn that depression was not a sign of weakness.
‘I think at that point, I’ll say as a male athlete I could tell something was off. But I think I saw it as a sign of weakness and if I shared anything about it then it would give my competitors an edge,’ he explained.
‘And I’m not trying to do that, right? I don’t want to give my competitors an edge. I’m trying to be better than anybody, period, has ever been. So, for me, I looked at it as weakness.
‘So, for me, I had to learn that vulnerability is a good thing. And it was scary at first, but I learned that vulnerability just means change. And for me, it was a great change.’