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Is swimming such an indecent obsession that the very best struggle in life?

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View more articles from Peter FitzSimons

Back from the edge: Michael Phelps.

Back from the edge: Michael Phelps. Photo: Getty Images

Your humble correspondent writes from New York where the sportsman making all the headlines is the most successful Olympian of all time, with 11 – count 'em, ELEVEN – individual gold medals to his credit, Michael Phelps.The headlines are not because, with seemingly nothing else that commends itself to do with his life, he is just about on his way to  selection for his fifth Olympic Games.

No, it's because the 30-year-old has just told Matt Lauer on the American Today Show how, at one point when his life was falling apart, with alcoholic binges, two DUI arrests, time in rehab, "the sort of the path that I was going down," meant there could have been only one end had he not got off it.

"I think a lot of people close to me saw it. And I was going fast. Fast. Honestly, at one point I felt like I didn't want to see another day."

High drama: This photo reportedly shows Grant Hackett slumped in a wheelchair after being removed from the plane.

High drama: This photo reportedly shows Grant Hackett slumped in a wheelchair after being removed from the plane. Photo: Channel Seven

Yes, that's right.

The most successful Olympian of all time, the greatest swimmer the world has known, had so completely lost his way, he was no longer sure he wanted to live. The good news is he is now completely off the grog, is going to be a father, and seems to sort of have his life back together.

"I'm actually happy every day," he said in another interview. "I'm actually able to be productive every day. I think that's something that I am very proud of and, you know, I think when I do retire I'll be able to look back and say that [rehab] was something that really helped."

Stint in rehab: Ian Thorpe

Stint in rehab: Ian Thorpe

But still, the resemblance to the experience of our own swimmers is uncanny, ain't it?

Grant Hackett, of course, made headlines for all the wrong reasons just last week, and he has been commendably frank about just how much he has struggled to find meaning after his swimming career was over.

Ian Thorpe, has been equally upfront about his struggles with depression, and has done his own time in rehab.

Kieren Perkins has noted many times how hard he found it once his swimming career was over, and how he had little idea how to live his life once the structure of swimming was removed from it.

Scott Miller? The silver medallist from the Atlanta Olympics was lucky to avoid jail for a variety of low-brow crimes and misdemeanours and was last seen in the public domain leaving a courthouse.

But look at that list above. All male swimmers, all of them the best or near best in the world, with seemingly the world at their feet. And yet all of them lost their way – some dangerously enough to intimate that suicide was a serious option.

So I'll ask the obvious.

Is it swimming itself that is at least part of the problem? Is it that swimming is now to the point that the only way you get to be world class is by training to such extremes that all the other life-skills that the rest of us pick up along the way, are left in their wake – meaning they struggle so badly once it's all over. And you're right, the same problems don't seem to show up in the female swimmer, though Shane Gould has always been strong on the ground that while there is always huge support to get to the top of the mountain, there is bugger all help to get down the other side once you've retired.

The solution? Not sure, but it certainly starts with recognition of the problem.

Lifeline: 131 114

Twitter: @Peter_Fitz

26 comments so far

  • Yeah I dunno, I'm not too fussed. All the guys listed above have travelled worldwide and been paid a fair whack of cash as well as being trained by a taxpayer-funded system. Then when it's all over they can get pretty decent gigs as long as they have the ability to commentate on TV about other people doing the same thing.

    Probably up to them and them alone to work out what they do with themselves after they turn 30. The rest of us have had to without that type of privilege to begin with.

    Commenter
    Ian
    Location
    Eveleigh
    Date and time
    April 27, 2016, 8:28PM

    • Peter...

      I wouldn't be too sure "the same problems don't seem to show up in the female swimmer, though"

      An extract from Leisel Jones book was published in this very paper not so long ago...

      http://www.smh.com.au/good-weekend/olympic-swimmer-leisel-joness-dive-into-depression-20150910-gjjkkq.html

      Commenter
      RDNx
      Location
      Sydney
      Date and time
      April 27, 2016, 9:03PM

      • I guess the rest of the swimmers who adjust to retirement and then lead fairly normal lives don't make such an interesting story.

        Commenter
        Bob
        Date and time
        April 27, 2016, 9:16PM

        • Start by removing the HECS-free entitlement they enjoy at the AIS.

          Commenter
          TheCutter
          Date and time
          April 27, 2016, 9:31PM

          • It is partly because they are thrust into an intense media spotlight at a very young age. They have a careers that might span 2 or 3 Olympics if they are lucky, and then they are done at a relatively young age without having an opportunity to develop the necessary life skills.

            Why not the women? I'm not sure, although Shane Gould is not a good example, since she chose to truncate her career and was from a different era where the intensity of scrutiny wasn't so high. I think Stephanie Rice had some struggles. Perhaps the media scrutiny was a bit less for the female swimmers due to swimmers from a wider range of countries being successful during those times (with or without chemical assistance) so the spotlight was more scattered

            I'm going to disagree that this is an issue just with swimmers though. You can find a fair few examples in rugby and AFL of players going off the rails. You might want to take a look at the NBA and NFL and you will find plenty of international examples. Or perhaps Jennifer Capriati in the tennis.

            Commenter
            p
            Date and time
            April 27, 2016, 10:40PM

            • Thanks Peter for highlighting this issue that affects all sports heroes.

              Most contemporary sports men and women must sacrifice resilience (critical learning years) to chase a high risk dream that is rewarding but short lived.

              It takes at least 10 years of hard deliberate practice to develop expert skills, even more to reach eminence and world class status.

              Sports people must therefore start training no later than at ten years of age to put in the hard practice for at least 50 hours per week to ensure their expertise peaks before their physical skills start to decline in their twenties. It gets worse if you want to be a world leader.

              High performers start tunneling their training from birth. Mozart started learning the piano at 4, Earl Woods put a putter in his son Tiger's hands at 7 months.

              For these sports people, it's hardly surprising there's less resilience (life skills) left in the tank when their critical sports skills wane.

              Appreciate sports people for the sacrifices they make. They deserve at least as much support and respect from us as the support and respect they gave to our country.

              Rich

              Commenter
              RichDeC
              Location
              Sydney
              Date and time
              April 27, 2016, 11:01PM

              • Rubbish, they do it for themselves first and foremost. They have choices like everybody else. They don't make sacrifices for Australia, surely you don't believe that, they make sacrifices to pursue their goals and the kudos, satisfaction and rewards they think may flow from that success. Good on them all credit to them. But I'd rather money and attention be focused on more pressing needs, such as disability, eduction, health etc etc.

                Commenter
                Mark Smith
                Location
                Coogee
                Date and time
                April 28, 2016, 3:29PM

            • Up and down, up and down chasing a black line in the pool year after year after year. Surely a psychiatrist would indeed diagnose extreme obsessive compulsive disorder here?
              Yet to be world class in any sporting endeavour these days you need to display similar levels of compulsion.

              Commenter
              Michael
              Location
              Sydney
              Date and time
              April 28, 2016, 5:35AM

              • I'm glad you raise this Peter.

                I think we watch elite and professional sport in part to see the human condition when put to the ultimate tests. But we support those sports because there is a belief that sport can have a power that can have a positive impact on the rest of our lives. Hence why Universities, an institution that should be theoretically anathema to sport, have a focus on sport.

                And we use (or have used as kids) sportsmen as role models for our lives, even if we have no chance of ever competing in a sport at an elite level.

                So when we see our role models role off the rails, we may take an individual case or 2 as an example of the human condition: we all aren't perfect and sometimes there are injuries, physical as well as mental. But when you see an issue that appears to be endemic to that sport, for example brain damage related to concussion, you do have to question, is that sport really worth it?

                Commenter
                Joseph
                Date and time
                April 28, 2016, 6:41AM

                • Perhaps it takes a certain type of personality to train at that level. A small percentage of them will come unhinged. They would have even if they were not Olympic swimmers. It's not the swimming that did it.

                  Commenter
                  Rusty
                  Date and time
                  April 28, 2016, 7:16AM

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