The Tokyo Olympic champions Malaika Mihambo and Florian Wellbrock drew attention to the dangers of excessive expectations for the mental health of competitive athletes in a double interview.
“We athletes are too often portrayed as machines,” Wellbrock told the “Spiegel”. Long jumper Mihambo agreed with the swimming champion: “If you see yourself as a machine, it can quickly become dangerous.”
In a survey by the German Sport University, almost a third of all German athletes from the Olympic and Paralympic squads stated that they were “not fully mentally present” at their season highlights. Mihambo (27) explains the result with the exceptional situation of the pandemic.
“The first Corona year of 2020 was tough, and I know that in athletics many sponsorship contracts were not renewed during this time,” she said Couldn’t relieve pressure situations. ” It is about “getting some distance from one’s emotions and thoughts”.
Wellbrock (24) and Mihambo, who share management, often had to struggle with doubts in their careers. Mihambo found a way out with “a lot of strength” by accepting “that there are external circumstances that cannot be changed . What you can change is the perspective of how you look at yourself and your own achievements, “said the world champion:” You can just leave the constant self-assessment as it is. “
Both champions deal differently with external assessments. Wellbrock reads “everything”, “Facebook, Instagram, texts and the comments under the texts and articles” that he is “far too curious not to do it”. Mihambo “would be too preoccupied with it”, so she tries to read about herself “as best as nothing works”.
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