Michael Phelps once experienced post-Olympic blues; What is it? How to beat it?

You don't have to have been an Olympic athlete to experience something like the post-Olympic blues.

"It can happen to anyone who does something emotionally important," Jens Kleinert of the Psychological Institute at the German Sport University Cologne told DW.

"For example, say I spend a year or two building my house and put an incredible amount of energy into it – including emotional energy, because it means so much to me. Then the house is suddenly finished. And everyone is surprised that I don't seem really happy about it, but instead say: Somehow I feel totally broken and empty right now."

Phelps: 'I didn't want to be alive'

This is what happens to many athletes after an Olympic Games end. They fall into a mental pit. Even former US swimming superstar Michael Phelps, the most successful Olympian of all time with 23 gold medals, experienced the post-Olympic blues in a massive way. After the 2012 Games in London, he didn't leave his room for four days, Phelps said.

"I didn't want to be in the sport anymore. I didn't want to be alive," he told a mental health conference in Chicago in 2018.

One of Germany's flag bearers at the opening ceremony in Paris, Anna-Maria Wagner, also suffered from post-Olympic syndrome – after the 2021 Games in Tokyo.

"I cried a lot, for no reason," the judoka told DW. "I just wasn't in a good mood."

Emotional tank empty

The Olympic Games are an "emotionally draining time" for the athletes, according to sports scientist Kleinert. "They know that 'I can only get there once every four years or maybe even just once in my life,'" he said. 

"This is extremely important to the athletes. Their emotional system is running at full throttle during this time and beforehand. Then you could fall into a pit afterwards – because your emotional tank is empty."

The good news is that symptoms that require treatment, only occur in relatively rare cases.

"The emotional system needs time to regenerate, to refuel. And then it usually goes away again," Kleinert noted.

Overblown problem

In a study published in 2023, Danish researchers found that 27% of the athletes in the Danish Olympic and Paralympic teams suffered from depression after the Games in Tokyo.

According to Kleinert, this figure, which may seem high at first glance, is not surprising from a psychological point of view.

‘Such moods can occur in any emotionally stressful situation. For example, one in five people have the same problem after serious injuries," he explained. "Sports psychologists have to keep an eye on this, but we also have to be careful not to make a big deal out of it. The whole thing is being overblown a bit."

Look back, look forward, top up the tank

Kleinert says there are a few things athletes themselves can do to help them avoid falling into an emotional pit after a major event such as the Olympic Games.

"You can think about it," Kleinert said.

"What will my life be like in the first few weeks after the Games? What could be interesting tasks or new perspectives?

"But it can also be helpful to look back and reflect on the great moments of the Olympic Games. So: look back, look forward and top up your emotional tank - with things that bring you joy, even outside of sport," the sports psychologist concluded.

As for the aforementioned house builder, one way that could help him or her get out of their mental pit could be to take up a sport.