Gracie Gold knows all about the pressure of the Winter Olympics, and she's helping Olympians care for their mental health with resources she never had
MILAN ― An Olympian is expected to embody perfection. Premier athletes on the world’s biggest stage, what could possibly be wrong belonging to an elite class of excellence?
The truth: a whole lot.
It takes a tremendous amount of physical strength to make the Olympic Games, but it’s just as challenging to maintain the mental aspect of it. Gracie Gold knows that better than most.
A 2014 Olympic bronze medalist figure skater, Gold helped open the conversation around mental health struggles. Doing so left her extremely vulnerable, but her courage helped others come forward and share similar experiences.
Now, Gold’s role in the Olympics is a little different. She's an IOC mental health ambassador, serving as a role model and advocate to help Olympians deal with the stress and pressure that comes with the Games. With the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics beginning this week, there is a great emphasis on making sure athletes have the space to care for their minds just as much as their bodies.
Mental pressures of Olympics
No matter how many times athletes try to approach the Olympics as just another event, it’s hard to hold that mindset.
“Everything feels so different when you have the Olympics on the line,” Gold told USA TODAY Sports.
The pressure is higher, and it doesn’t help that nearly the entire planet is watching. Gold recalled being 18 years old at her first Olympics in 2014 and how "really intense” it was in Sochi, Russia. She didn’t really know how to deal with it, and she said she felt the IOC didn’t prioritize it as much as it should have or provide enough resources for mental health.
That led to her questioning if her feelings were invalid or should be outweighed by the prestige of being an Olympian. She also figured if she just had clean skates and did well, the struggle wouldn’t persist.
Evidently, a bronze medal in the team event and fourth place finish in the women’s singles didn’t make the problems go away. Her mental health concerns continued for years afterward, and Gold made a stunning announcement in 2017 that she would take a break from competition to treat her anxiety and depression.
After she came forward, Gold learned she wasn’t alone.
"I realized the amount of people that come up to me, even to this day, that are like this resonated, or this resonated, or, 'I know what you felt here and here.' I realized how, actually, that my story was not unique," said Gold, who did return to skating after nearly a year off and in 2024 wrote a memoir titled, 'Outofshapeworthlessloser: A Memoir of Figure Skating, F*cking Up, and Figuring It Out.'
Gold’s vulnerability paved the way for current stars like Amber Glenn to be open about her mental health journey while skating. Glenn has talked about the lowest points of her life and having a mentality of just surviving the day. She allowed the world into her life, sharing her journey while taking care of her mental health.
Now considered a veteran in U.S. figure skating, Glenn wants to use the lessons she learned to help others, similar to Gold.
"I've been very outspoken about the ups and downs that I've had in my career, because I want people to know that that's OK,” Glenn said.
How athletes can care for mental health at 2026 Winter Olympics
There are multiple ways athletes can take care of their mental health at the 2026 Winter Olympics, with resources now widely available at the Olympic Village.
It starts with the Mind Zone, a quiet, peaceful space where tranquility can be found. There’s room to do meditation or yoga, another where athletes can use virtual reality to put them in calming settings, or even a closed-off area where Olympians can simply relax.
The Mind Zone was tested at the 2024 Paris Olympics, and now upgraded for the 2026 Olympic Games, Gold called it “revolutionary.”
There are also calming canteen spaces, where you’re surrounded by plants and calming music is played. If there’s a need for more care, there are welfare officers around the village who can speak to athletes privately about anything going through their minds.
"That will help for all the people that might avoid it because of those feelings of shame or embarrassments or whatever people typically feel,” Gold said. "We have the welfare officers around, but being able to have a private moment with them, I think could be really special.”
Gold hopes athletes take advantage of the opportunities, acknowledge if something feels off and seek help. There’s a widely-held belief you should feel on top of the world at the Olympics, and she believes there shouldn’t be any shame in feeling a different way. It’s a normal feeling and can be treated without needing to have a crisis.
"The hardest thing to do is to try to compete at the Olympics, not feeling trained physically and not being trained or feeling well mentally,” Gold said.
Mental health care has come a long way at the Olympics, and Gold is glad to see things are getting better for those experiencing some of the biggest moments in their lives.
"It's really just come full circle of having experienced it, survived it, grown from it," Gold said. "And now I have a leadership role in it."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Olympics mental health resources didn't always exist. Why it matters
Category: General Sports
