More and more athletes openly say that they are exhausted.
In recent history, several Finnish athletes from different sports backgrounds have made exits: the triple jumper Senni Salminenswimmers Ida Hulkko and Jenna LaukkanenE-athlete Miikka Kemppi and a baseball player Lauri Rönkkö.
The seventh-grader opened up last from his exhaustion Mary Huntingtonwhose status update published on Thursday described the athlete’s current condition.
– I got tired of elite sports. The internal fire was no longer enough to carry me and I noticed that I was no longer getting what I had gotten from top sports in the previous years.
Huntington has said that he is now on a break from competition, but that he hopes that he will get his athletic passion back.
Read more: Maria Huntington published her most difficult social media update – exhausted from elite sports: “This has been difficult to admit”
Another athletics star, Senni Salminen, opened her triple jump season in June. After that, he published an honest situation update and retired from competition.
– It’s been really exhausting to pretend that everything is fine, when in reality I’ve been at the end of my mind and all faith in what I’m doing has disappeared, Salminen, who returned to the racing fields this week, wrote.
Read more: Senni Salminen stated that everything is fine, even if he wanted to be anywhere other than the race venue – “Like on the plank of a pirate ship”
Race priest Leena Huovinen is not surprised by the exhaustion experienced by elite athletes. The change in how athletes cope has happened slowly during his 20-year career.
– I think that it was only a matter of time before cases of burnout appeared. It’s good when they are brought up, but of course the athlete’s followers are concerned about what is happening to these young adults.
Since the 2004 Olympics, Huovinen has worked as a chaplain for the Finnish Olympic teams, among other things. He has acted as support for Finnish athletes, for example on prestigious competition trips. In his civilian profession, he is the leading chaplain of the University of Helsinki.
Read also: Top swimmer Ida Hulkko, 23, thought she was a machine and exhausted herself in the wild pace of work – now she has made a big decision about this season
In the background, the ethos of execution and social media
According to Huovinen, one of the root causes leading to burnout is today’s ethos of completion. Athletes, like other people, want to get the most out of themselves. Whether it was a sports performance or something related to it.
Another exhausting factor is social media, which today acts as an almost mandatory communication channel for athletes. The marketing earning model it creates creates its own pros and cons.
– It can be tough for athletes when they have to think after the day’s training, how to make good posts so that the financiers are satisfied.
In social media, athletes can bring out their own opinions and views genuinely. However, genuine is a challenging word when talking about social media, because in reality, few followers are interested in the ordinary everyday life of athletes.
– Social media has increased the culture of comparison and the fact that you always have to be in good shape and presentable. People are also interested in disasters, but there is no place for ordinary everyday life, where an athlete says that I skied 48 kilometers and ate oatmeal, Huovinen describes.
– Even though social media generates money for athletes, you have to think about what consequences it has. It can be really tough to keep up a scene where you are told everything is going well, even if it isn’t, especially in these individual sports.
Huovinen describes exhaustion and related cases in general, not through specific athletes. According to him, it is also possible that social media reinforces the focus on appearance and pressure on appearance that is already present in sports.
The changed practices make sport more individual-oriented, which is emphasized especially in the case of individual athletes.
Genuine self-awareness is low
At the beginning of Leena Huovinen’s career, the sports community has been different. It also looks different for all athletes.
– Is the community a safety or strength for the athlete, or does the community create the feeling that, in addition to competing in sports, one must also compete in how one’s own visibility compares to others.
People’s personal life stories and their handling play a big role. If, in Huovinen’s words, the athlete has not gone to the workplace to increase his own self-knowledge, there may be known problems.
– It is important to know yourself, your own lights and darkness. It is no different in the case of athletes than other people.
According to Huovinen, the challenges are accentuated especially if the athlete does not know himself other than through publicity or media image. In addition, each exhausted athlete has his own story, which must be respected.
– Who I really am, what is important to me and what I hold on to are good questions. Exhaustion is related to how well the athlete is doing and where he gets his energy from.
What’s the solution?
Burnout is constantly being talked about more, which is important. In addition, increasing attention is being paid to the well-being of athletes, and there are several support staff behind the scenes.
– Will they also eventually be completed? If an athlete thinks that he is putting his life in order, as it were, by clearing his mind in therapy or at a priest’s. The truth is that no one can speed things up like this in life.
According to Huovinen, it is important to talk and think about whether sometimes less would be enough. At the same time, the unrealistic backdrop around sports heroism should be broken.
– The subject remains on the table when people talk. There’s no need to be ashamed and it’s perfectly okay to say you can’t take it, Huovinen emphasizes.
Spectators and athletes on the bench should also think about what they expect from the athlete. Huovinen encourages people to encourage healthy spirits.
– Your feeling of inadequacy can multiply in sports if you don’t start to get results. After that, it is difficult to get funding and you can suddenly find yourself in a situation that leads to exhaustion.
– In a certain way, exhaustion is the beginning of something new. With that, some things have to be changed, so that the direction can be changed to something new and better.