HBO’s sports documentary The Weight of Gold, now streaming on HBO and HBO Max, shines a spotlight on one of the most devastating and least talked about aspects of Olympic sports: the failure to support athletes once the Games have ended. Several Olympic athletes past and present – including big names like Michael Phelps, Gracie Gold, Lolo Jones, Apolo Ohno, and Sasha Cohen – share their struggles with post-Olympics depression in the film. It’s a harsh reminder that there’s only so much those bright smiles and shiny medals can mask – and just how little support these top-notch athletes actually have when it comes to their mental, physical, and emotional well-being.
There’s no shortage of sobering and difficult revelations in the documentary, but a few quotes really stand out. Keep reading to see which athletes made the tough observations that we’ll be thinking about for quite some time.
Getty / Martin Bureau
Michael Phelps on the Post-Olympics Letdown
“If your whole life was about building up to one race, one performance, or one event, how does that sustain everything that comes afterward? . . . Eventually, for me at least, there was one question that hit me like a ton of bricks: Who was I outside of the swimming pool?”
Getty / Franck Fife
Sasha Cohen on Why Athletes Hide Their Pain
“Athletes most likely don’t get help for depression or mental health issues because they can’t even admit that it’s an issue. That is so fundamentally at odds with being a competitor. This is war. It’s a game of strategy. It’s a game of maneuvering and posturing. You need to show the world that you are strong.”
Getty / Matthew Stockman
Gracie Gold on What It Was Like to Have Depression
“It was like my life was a snow globe, and I could look in and I could see everything that was happening, but I couldn’t be involved. There was just this wall separating me from the rest of the world.”
Getty / Fabrice Coffrini / Staff
Jeremy Bloom on What It's Like to Fail in the Public Eye
“Unless you’re an Olympic athlete, it’s difficult to understand when you fail at the Olympics what a big deal that is. From an outside perspective, you can say, ‘Oh, big deal. You’re an Olympian. People have bigger problems.’ And that is true. But for Olympians, that’s your life. That’s really what defines you.”
Getty / Ian MacNicol
Michael Phelps on How Olympic Athletes Are Viewed by Those Around Them
“I don’t think anybody really cared to help us. I don’t think anybody really jumped in to ask us if we were OK. As long as we were performing, I don’t think anything else really mattered.”
Getty / Matthew Stockman
Gracie Gold on the Mental Health Crisis That's Threatening Olympic Athletes
“We all seem like something’s fine until we get to that one breaking point, where either we’re fortunate enough for somebody to see us, or we’re not lucky, and we die . . . I don’t think that they’re maliciously ignoring our well-being, I just don’t know that they realize it’s, like, a full crisis yet. How many more dead Olympians do they need before they realize that there might be an epidemic here?”
Getty / Streeter Lecka / Staff
Lolo Jones on the Lack of Support Given to Athletes in Retirement
“I’ve given my blood, sweat, and tears, I’ve given my talent, and all I’m asking is that after it’s all said and done, someone can help me mentally get through this.”
