Since boxer Tina Rahimi lost to Poland’s Julia Szeremeta in the first round of the 57-kilogram class at Paris 2024, the Australian has been waking at random hours of the night, crying.
Rahimi’s story is almost a rite of passage for any Olympian in the aftermath of the Games. Whether they consider themselves successful, or not, there is always a bout of the “post-Olympic blues”.
Australian boxer Tina Rahimi.Credit: Getty Images
All athletes feel pressure to perform for their country on the biggest stage, and Australian Olympic Committee lead psychologist Carolyn Anderson says the “post-Olympic blues” describe the comedown that athletes experience upon their return from the Games. The lead-up to the Olympics is years of work, while the 2½ weeks of action is nothing short of a whirlwind.
“There’s lots of reasons why people feel this. Given the pressure to perform that people have leading in, their own expectations, or those of a perceived pressure from others,” Anderson says.
“A lot of people really tie their sense of self-worth to that outcome and that medal, so when they don’t get the outcome they want, there’s this profound sense of loss and disappointment.”
But Anderson also says that feeling of pressure is likely heightened for athletes representing a particular faith, cultural background or minority group. These athletes, such as Rahimi, are faced with another layer of expectation, and carry a profound sense of responsibility to their community.
Tina Rahimi (right) during her fight against Poland’s Julia Szeremeta.Credit: Getty Images
Rahimi, 28, made history in Paris as Australia’s first female Muslim boxer to participate in the Olympics. She did so while wearing the hijab, an Islamic head covering that the host nation France had banned its athletes from wearing.
With more than 100,000 followers on both TikTok and Instagram, Rahimi had a particularly strong Muslim and Arab-Australian following before the Games, as her community rallied behind her. Whether they were into the Olympics or not, everyone in her community knew when Rahimi was fighting.
“I had so much support,” Rahimi says. “I think everyone was just really excited for me to be representing Muslim women, and me being really confident in my hijab. For a lot of them, the result didn’t matter. Obviously, it mattered to me, but they were just happy to see me there.”
Rahimi says she performed the best she possibly could, but admits she feels disappointed at losing her match, and leaving Paris without a medal. It’s a reality she is struggling to accept, and to keep her mind busy, Rahimi has put off returning home to Sydney for a little while longer, as she continues her travels to Dubai and the United Kingdom.
“I’m not really looking forward to getting back home from this holiday,” she says.
“My goal for the past two years was working towards winning a medal at the Olympics, and now that that’s out the window and I don’t have a specific goal set, I feel really, really lost.
“What’s next? What am I going to do?”
The support Rahimi received through her social media presence before her fight was followed by a wave of negative comments online after her loss.
“I posted a video on TikTok and everyone’s like, ‘Oh, but did you win a medal?’, ‘It looks like you went there for a holiday’. I feel like I can’t even enjoy myself because I didn’t win a medal at the Olympics,” she says.
“There’s a lot of expectations, and they don’t know what it’s like to even be at the Olympics and how hard it is even to medal. There’s constantly a lot of hate, and people being ignorant.”
For most people, it’s difficult to imagine the highs and lows that Olympic athletes experience. While Anderson has clinical expertise, she, like Rahimi, knows first-hand how tough that reality is.
In 2004, Anderson competed in the taekwondo at the Athens Games. The Australian team that year needed no reminders of the nation’s successful campaign in the Games prior – at Sydney 2000, Australia won 16 gold medals, and 58 medals in total. That remains the highest number of medals claimed by Australia at an Olympics.
Carolyn Anderson (then Bartasek) celebrates at the 2004 Athens Olympics.Credit: Andrew Gorrie
“Athletes don’t always perform their best at an Olympic Games,” Anderson says.
“There’s so many reasons why that can happen, but first of all, it’s hard. Anything can happen on the day, and everything kind of has to go right, and sometimes it just doesn’t. And that’s OK, that’s sport, that’s competition, but I think that perspective can get really blurred or lost just in the ‘bubble’ that is the Olympic village.”
While the Olympics create fresh celebrities and national heroes, more often than not they fade almost as quickly as they are made. Anderson says when the noise dies down and the Olympic buzz wears off, athletes return home where feelings of disappointment and isolation rise to the top.
“It can be such a huge emotional roller coaster, and it can take a really long path to find that acceptance and come to terms with their performance,” she says.
Anderson says athletes who are unable to reach their dreams or expected outcomes often go through a grieving process that includes all the traditional stages: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and finally, acceptance.
“We also know that paradoxically athletes who do achieve their goals, can also experience post-Olympic depression,” she says.
“There’s many reasons why that happens. It’s the end of a long-term goal and there’s kind of like this sense of, what next? That transition from that euphoria and high media attention, it’s just a whirlwind, basically coming back and it just being normal life again.”
At Paris 2024, Australian race walker Rhydian Cowley, alongside Jemima Montag, secured a bronze medal in the marathon race walk mixed relay.
Rhydian Cowley competes during the marathon race walk mixed relay.Credit: Getty Images
It was Cowley’s first medal in three Olympic appearances, having also competed in Rio and Tokyo.
“Before that relay competition I knew that Jemima and I together were a chance to win a medal, but I didn’t really want to think about it too hard because I didn’t want to jinx myself,” Cowley says.
“I was almost mentally trying to play it down and not come in with too much expectations of myself. I guess I was nervous enough before the race that I just couldn’t keep my race breakfast down, I basically threw it straight back up.”
Cowley says after the 2016 Rio Games, he felt he was at a loose end for months, unsure of what to do next. Since then, he believes there is more awareness and planning among athletes to help get them through life after the Olympics.
“It’s good to reach out to people that you feel comfortable with to seek advice from, whether that’s a fellow athlete or through the wellbeing network that the Olympic Committee or their sport has,” Cowley says.
“The best time to start is when you’re experiencing feelings that you’re just not sure what you’re supposed to do with.”
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