If it were only about winning gold medals, the vast majority of Olympians would be seen as failures.<\/b>
\nIf winning gold medals were the only standard, almost all Olympic athletes would be considered failures.
A clinical psychologist with the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee, Emily Clark\u2019s job when the Winter Games open in Italy on Feb. 6 is to help athletes interpret what it means to be successful.
Should gold medals be the only measure?
Part of a 15-member staff providing psychological services, Clark nurtures athletes accustomed to triumph but who invariably risk failure.
The staff deals with matters termed \u201cmental health and mental performance.\u201d They include topics such as motivation, anger management, anxiety, eating disorders, family issues, trauma, depression, sleep, handling pressure, travel and so forth.
Clark\u2019s area includes stress management, the importance of sleep and getting high achievers to perform at their best and avoid the temptation of looking only at results.
\u201cA lot of athletes these days are aware of the mental health component of, not just sport, but of life,\u201d Clark said in an interview with The Associated Press. \u201cThis is an area where athletes can develop skills that can extend a career, or make it more enjoyable.\u201dRedefining success
The United States is expected to take about 235 athletes to the Winter Olympics, and about 70 more to the Paralympics. But here\u2019s the truth.
\u201cMost of the athletes who come through Team USA will not win a gold medal,\u201d Clark said. \u201cThat\u2019s the reality of elite sport.\u201d
Here are the numbers. The United States won gold medals in nine events in the last Winter Games in Beijing in 2022. According to Dr. Bill Mallon, an esteemed shoulder surgeon and Olympic historian, 70.8% of Winter and Summer Olympic athletes go to only one Olympics.
Few are famous and successful like swimmer Michael Phelps, or skiers Mikaela Shiffrin or Lindsey Vonn.
Clark said she often delivers the following message to Olympians and Paralympians: This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance. Focus on the process. Savor the moment.
\u201cYour job is not to win a gold medal, your job is to do the thing and the gold medal is what happens when you do your job,\u201d she said.
\u201cSome of this might be realigning what success looks like,\u201d she added. \u201cAnd some of this is developing resilience in the face of setbacks and failure.\u201d
Clark preaches staying on task under pressure and improving through defeat.
\u201cWe get stronger by pushing ourselves to a limit where we\u2019re at our maximum capacity \u2014 and then recovering,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen we get stressed, it impacts our attention. Staying on task or staying in line with what\u2019s important is what we try to train for.\u201dA few testimonials
Kendall Gretsch has won four gold medals at the Summer and Winter Paralympics. She credits some of her success to the USOPC\u2019s mental health services, and she described the value this way.
\u201cWe have a sports psychologist who travels with us for most our season,\u201d she said. \u201cJust being able to touch base with them \u2026 and getting that reminder of why are you here. What is that experience you\u2019re looking for?\u201d
American figure skater Alysa Liu is the 2025 world champion and was sixth in the 2022 Olympics. She\u2019s a big believer in sports psychology and should be among the favorites in Italy.
\u201cI work with a sport psychologist,\u201d she said without giving a name. \u201cShe\u2019s incredible \u2014 like the MVP.\u201d
Of course, MVP stands \u2014 not for Most Valuable Person or Most Valuable Player \u2014 for \u201cMost Valuable Psychologist.\u201d
\u201cI mean, she\u2019s very helpful,\u201d Liu added.Vonn: \u201cI just did it myself\u201d
American downhill skier Vonn will race in Italy in her sixth Olympics. At 41, she\u2019s coming off nearly six years in retirement and will be racing on a knee made of titanium.
Two-time Olympic champion Michaela Dorfmeister has suggested in jest that Vonn \u201cshould see a psychologist\u201d for attempting such a thing in a very dangerous sport where downhill skiers reach speeds of 80 mph (130 kph).
Vonn shrugged off the comments and joked a few months ago that she didn\u2019t grow up using a sport psychologist. She said her counseling came from taping messages on the tips of her skis that read: \u201cstay forward or hands up.\u201d
\u201cI just did it myself,\u201d she said. \u201cI do a lot of self-talk in the starting gate.\u201dOn sleep
\u201cSleep is an area where athletes tend to struggle for a number of reasons,\u201d Clark said, listing issues such as travel schedules, late practices, injuries and life-related stress.
\u201cWe have a lot of athletes who are parents, and lot of sleep is going to be disrupted in the early stages of parenting,\u201d she said. \u201cWe approach sleep as a real part of performance. But it can be something that gets de-prioritized when days get busy.\u201d
Clark suggests the following for her athletes \u2014 and the rest of us: no caffeine after 3 p.m., mitigate stress before bedtime, schedule sleep at about the same time daily, sleep in a dark room and get 7-9 hours.
Dani Aravich is a two-time Paralympian \u2014 she\u2019s been in both the Summer and Winter Games \u2014 will be skiing in the upcoming Paralympics. She said in a recent interview that she avails herself of many psychological services provided by the USOPC.
\u201cI\u2019ve started tracking my sleep,\u201d she said, naming Clark as a counselor. \u201cEspecially being an athlete who has multiple jobs, sleep is going to be your No. 1 savior at all times. It\u2019s the thing that \u2014 you know \u2014 helps mental clarity.\u201d
Ditto Clark.
\u201cSleep is the cornerstone of healthy performance,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n