Elinor Barker: The Olympian helping future generations of athletes to deal with mental health

.....It became her passion, and 2020 was set to be her peak. Instead, the coronavirus pandemic means Barker, like thousands of her fellow athletes, has been left with inordinate amounts of something elite performers aren`t used to having -- time to think.

"It`s kind of hard to have goals when you know they`re probably not going to be stone. It`s been a bit difficult to be honest," she says of the last few months......

....In Barker`s early years, she would watch as her peers slowly dropped off as cycling became more intense and competitive. "The environment and the attitude was that sport is mentally tough so we need to make things as mentally tough as possible right now to work out who is strong enough to deal with it and who can get through that kind of thing.

"If that`s what you`re taught when you`re younger, you take it as a given but now looking back I just think I really disagree with it. If anything, you should be thinking sport is so mentally tough that you need to be able to prepare young people for it and support them through it rather than push them even more.".......

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Bethany`s Notes: A great way for elites to give back is to be an ambassador for strong mental health in athletics. Elites can be real about their struggles and their experience in getting help.