Naomi
@afrochicks
i won’t competing this year i have dedicated the past 10 years of my life to athletics, sacrificed alot, moved countries and cities, struggled with injury for the past two years and had multiple surgeries and have missed out on the past 2 olympics by small margin TWICE this lead to burn out and a decline in my mental health which is why i moved away from the national training centre last year when i went to south africa in jan i had a pretty awful time i was having daily panic attacks and my training was a mess, partly because of my grandad being in hospital and also because i just wasn’t feeling right i spoke to my coach and head of british athletics and we all agreed it’s best for my mental and physical health to finally…for the first time take a year off i’m still aiming for LA 2028 and i have many championships next year which i look forward to but for now i am going to experience LIVING and HEALING physically and mentally to make sure i can make my olympic dream a reality
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bradq
@bradq
“I say put mental health first. Because if you don’t, then you’re not going to enjoy your sport and you’re not going to succeed as much as you want to,” said Simone regarding her decision. “So it’s OK sometimes to even sit out the big competitions to focus on yourself because it shows how strong of a competitor and person that you really are—rather than just battle through it.” While she did get a lot of pushback for her doing what she did, it was very brave of Simone to do so and arguably the better decision in the long run.
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Naomi
@afrochicks
thanks so much brad, this is really reassuring
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