Paris 2024 has been an Olympic Year marked by female athletes redefining rest, age, beauty standards, motherhood, and how we talk about mental health in sport. Here are key takeaways from a Sport Psychologist:
1. Training Smarter and Prioritizing Rest:
Multiple female athletes took time off from competing for various reasons since Tokyo and demonstrated the power of rest, listening to your body, taking time to expand your sense of self, and find joy in your sport again.
2. De-stigmatizing Mental Health in Sport:
Simone Biles led the conversation around prioritizing athlete mental health. By speaking openly about regularly meeting with a therapist during the Olympics, she is helping redefine asking for help as a sign of strength and normalize meeting with a licensed sport psychologist.
3. Redefining Perceptions of Women Athletes and Age
We saw female athletes competing into their late 20's and 30's–redefining how we view women in athletics and age.
This Olympic cycle provided a clear testament that female athletes peak in matured fueled bodies.
4. Fueling to Meet Energy Needs and Dominating
Too often female athletes engage in disordered eating and compulsive exercise to fight off puberty to have a competitive advantage. In this Olympics, we witnessed female athletes fueling their bodies appropriately to meet their energy needs and dominating on the world’s stage.
5. Embracing Body Diversity In Sport
Female athletes took to social media to speak to the beauty, strength, and power of women in diverse bodies across sports and spoke up against body shaming, policing Black women’s bodies and hair, and bullying in general.
We need more of this energy.
6. Advocating for Female Athlete Mothers
Former Olympian, Allyson Felix, has been the most vocal advocate around changing the narrative around female athletes and motherhood and creating more inclusive spaces. We witnessed female athletes embracing being both a mother and athlete while continuing to dominate on the world’s stage after giving birth.
7. “Let Us Soak Up The Moment”
Simone Biles challenged reporters and reminded us all of the importance of allowing yourself to celebrate your wins. To those athletes who competed on the world’s stage: You are an Olympian and no one can take that away from you.
8. Lift As We Climb Mentality
The most iconic photo of Paris 2024 thus far is of Simone Biles and Jordan Chiles giving Rebecca Andrade her flowers on the Olympic podium after she received her gold medal for individual floor. The respect for our competition only fuels us all to climb higher.
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