- 5 weeks ago
The world stage can be too much to bear, even for elite competitors. Join us as we explore the moments when Olympic dreams were derailed by overwhelming pressure! Our countdown includes Simone Biles, McKayla Maroney, Nathan Chen and more athletes who faced mental health struggles under the global spotlight. Who else should be on this list?
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00:00He had been on a world record pace and now risking not even qualifying for the team.
00:04The pressure has to be immense.
00:06Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking at instances where Olympic pressure negatively
00:10impacted an athlete's performance. These are cases where the athlete isn't to blame,
00:15but rather the strain brought on by the global stage and other factors that can come with the
00:19territory. I had hoped to be able to put everything else in my life on pause and just
00:29power through the events, and I just couldn't.
00:34Marlon Esparza. Marlon Esparza made history as the first female American boxer to compete at the
00:40Olympics, leaving the 2012 Summer Games with bronze in the women's flyweight division.
00:45Why are you here every day? Because I want to win. This is my life, and this is what I
00:50do.
00:50Like, and I can honestly say, like, this is who I am. Like, right here, you're with it,
00:54you see it, this is what I do.
00:55It came as a disappointment when Esparza failed to qualify for the 2016 Games,
01:00losing to Virginia Fuchs. Esparza said, quote,
01:03I feel like I get more pressure from inside the boxing world to do well.
01:07For the public, I feel the need to win because that's all people see,
01:11the win or the loss, nothing in the middle.
01:13I want to be the best, and I want to know that everything I did, although it's great,
01:22ends the way I want it to end.
01:24Although Esparza was depressed, she strove to keep doing what she loves, quote,
01:29without all the pressure. Reflecting on the experience, Esparza said, quote,
01:33I was getting anxiety attacks and panic attacks. Those have been resolved.
01:37I love boxing, and if I don't, if I'm not doing it, I get really sad. So at the end
01:42of the day,
01:43it's something that I love, and I wouldn't want to be doing anything else.
01:47Tyson Gay. This American track and field sprinter seemed destined for gold following the 2008 trials,
01:53coming out on top in the 100 meters race.
02:11In addition to qualifying for the Beijing Olympics,
02:14Gay became one of the fastest athletes ever to compete in this event.
02:18During the 200 meters trials a week later, though,
02:20he suffered a hamstring injury that prevented him from running for almost a month.
02:24Gay endured mental stress heading into the games, ultimately walking away with no medals.
02:29I'm trying to work on my mental a lot better because when you come off of a surgery,
02:34it can play with your mind, you know, definitely a lot, and I'm definitely trying to stay positive.
02:40He didn't make the finals either. Beyond his physical injury,
02:44Gay would open up about the internal pressure he experienced.
02:47Despite being in the best shape of his life, Gay was weighed down by the question, quote,
02:51Why aren't I 100% like everyone else is?
02:55My mind frame is still staying tough to reach my goals.
02:59Mikayla Maroney.
03:00Mikayla Maroney left the 2012 Summer Olympics with gold as part of the American women's gymnastics team,
03:06a.k.a. the Fierce Five.
03:07Is it, uh, as, um, it looks frightening. Is it frightening?
03:11Yeah, it is pretty frightening.
03:12Well, uh, why do they make you do that?
03:16I don't know.
03:17You know what I mean? Oh, you're daredevils. Well, it kind of looks that way.
03:20That's why we're the Fierce Five.
03:21Many expected Maroney to win another gold medal in the vault event.
03:25Maroney came up short with the silver, sparking the Mikayla is not impressed meme.
03:30While Maroney didn't hide her disappointment,
03:32she said it was less about winning silver and more about her performance.
03:36Years later, Maroney revealed that she competed with a broken foot and nose following a concussion.
03:41For people who don't think I'm, like, really serious about this, like, you're wrong. Like, I want this so bad.
03:47Although Maroney was still recovering, Marta Corolli reportedly pushed her to keep training.
03:51Team doctor Larry Nassar had supposedly downplayed her injuries.
03:55Nassar would be accused of assaulting numerous athletes.
03:59This included Maroney, who faced pressure online, on camera, and behind the scenes.
04:04Doing what's right is not always easy, but I need to speak up for the girls and for the future.
04:10Lolo Jones
04:11Settling for silver or bronze when you're the presumed frontrunner is bittersweet.
04:16I'm so ready for the Olympics.
04:18Going home empty-handed is just bitter.
04:20That was the sentiment when Lolo Jones competed in the 100-meter hurdles at the 2008 Olympics.
04:26Although Jones was the favorite, she stumbled at the ninth hurdle, placing seventh in the event.
04:31Following several setbacks, the pressure was on for Jones to go the distance.
04:35I became a nobody to, she's supposed to win the Olympics overnight.
04:40When she fell short at the tail end, she arguably received more hate than support from the public.
04:45Looking back at this devastating loss, Jones said, quote,
04:48I really just put too much pressure on myself.
04:52If people want to consider that choking, if they want to use that terminology for me, I completely understand.
04:57I'm not going to argue with them.
04:59And people were pissed.
05:01Like, they were like, she should get back all her endorsement money.
05:04She's a failure.
05:05She's a flop.
05:06Like, I had so much hate after the Olympics.
05:09Nathan Chen
05:09At the 2022 Winter Olympics, figure skater Nathan Chen won two gold medals, a feat everyone knew he was capable
05:17of.
05:17That said, Chen was widely expected to win gold four years earlier at the Pyeongchang Games.
05:23There are always these expectations and all these pressures from side sources, but ultimately you're there alone on the ice,
05:28and you're there to enjoy your experience for yourself.
05:30Faltering during the team event, Chen's short program performance ranked fourth.
05:34While he'd still share in a bronze victory, Chen felt he had let his teammates down.
05:39Even worse, Chen placed 17th in the individual short program.
05:43It was a little disappointing, ultimately, upon myself, not really because of the media.
05:48I knew that I had, you know, hopes to get a medal for myself.
05:52And, I mean, I thought that with everything, I would be able to do it.
05:56Chen recalled experiencing, quote, pressure and, quote, doubt, which likely resulted in a, quote, total collapse, as ESPN put it.
06:03While Chen would make a comeback, 2018 taught him that, quote,
06:07One of the hardest parts about performing for a huge sold-out crowd is that you really can viscerally feel
06:12the reaction from the crowd.
06:14I think, ultimately, I'm still the same person, but I have learned a lot from these past couple of weeks.
06:18Dan O'Brien
06:20Endorsement deals can play a significant role in Olympic pressure.
06:23And he goes down the runway and stops. That was not a good sign right away.
06:27Ahead of the 1992 Summer Games, Reebok planned a campaign revolving around decathletes Dave Johnson and Dan O'Brien, who
06:34shared a rivalry.
06:35The campaign asked who was truly the world's greatest athlete, with the score to be settled in Barcelona.
06:41There was just one issue. Johnson qualified for the Olympics, but O'Brien didn't, failing to clear the pole vault
06:47event.
06:48It's a difficult thing to come to grips with. It's like, this didn't really happen.
06:51O'Brien was as surprised as anyone, saying, quote,
06:54I never considered that I missed at the Olympic trials due to the pressure from Reebok.
06:59Reebok reportedly invested around $30 million into the campaign, which they now had to rethink.
07:04There was much riding on O'Brien, which likely pulled him down at the bar.
07:09I think it'll be the moments that stand out.
07:12And I think my moment that people will remember me is the guy who failed in 1992, but came back
07:19in the United States to win the gold medal in 1996.
07:23Ilya Malinan. Known as the quad god, figure skater Ilya Malinan went into the 2026 Winter Olympics after being undefeated
07:30for two and a half years.
07:31I noticed the way he sort of carried himself. He owned that ice rink. He was like an ice god,
07:36right?
07:36No question.
07:37The quad god. And then today, though, we didn't see that athlete out there.
07:40While Malinan won gold with his team, he would face his most public defeat to date during the men's final
07:46event.
07:46The presumed favorite fell not once, but twice, plummeting to eighth place.
07:51Malinan knew he, quote, blew it, saying that his disappointing performance was, quote, definitely mental.
07:57I'm honestly heartbroken for what just happened. Just putting out so many hours again, just training nonstop just to get
08:04there and really just nail that program.
08:07But I didn't nail it.
08:08His mental health struggle wasn't helped by the intense backlash on social media, which Malinan described as, quote, vile.
08:15Malinan tried to help people understand the, quote, insurmountable pressure he was experiencing, posting on Instagram, quote,
08:22on the world's biggest stage, those who appear the strongest may still be fighting invisible battles on the inside.
08:28I don't know. Honestly, it's a lot to handle. And, you know, the pressure of the Olympics is, it's really
08:34something different.
08:35Dan Jansen.
08:36Being the favorite to win multiple gold medals is already an enormous amount of pressure for any athlete.
08:41It was not an easy road to the finish line. He failed to medal in his last three Olympics.
08:46Piling on a personal tragedy is more than an Olympian can feasibly bear.
08:51The morning he was set to compete at the 1988 Winter Olympics, speed skater Dan Jansen received word that his
08:57sister Jen was likely to lose her life to leukemia.
09:00Later that day, his sister was gone.
09:03I was ready and physically there, but mentally I wasn't.
09:08Nobody could expect Jansen to bring his A-game in the wake of his monumental loss.
09:12Yet he competed in the 500-meter event anyway, only to fall.
09:16Jansen fell again during the 1,000-meter race days later.
09:20While he earned the Olympic Spirit Award, Jansen had to wait until 1994 to win the gold.
09:26I remember it physically inside. Like, I can almost feel it, how good it felt, crossing the line.
09:32Michaela Schifrin.
09:33Alpine skier Michaela Schifrin won her first gold medal in 2014,
09:37followed by another in 2018.
09:39She returned in 2022, but her previous victories did not ease tensions.
09:44It's a lot to live up to, but that's also my own fault.
09:49Schifrin now had high expectations to live up to, competing in six events that year.
09:54Some predicted that she'd add no less than three gold medals to her collection.
09:58With each event, though, Schifrin struggled to place in the top three,
10:02not even finishing the slalom and giant slalom races.
10:05It doesn't click very often.
10:07It's like, you just have to know how to perform when things are not clicking.
10:12She won no medals that year, which can likely be attributed to three factors.
10:16Schifrin was still getting over a case of COVID,
10:19that year's games fell on the anniversary of her father's death,
10:22and the pressure of topping oneself when you're already a two-time gold medalist.
10:26With every single race, it was like, well, as disappointing as that is, we have to reset.
10:34And the only way I'm even going to be able to compete in everything is if I actually just try
10:40to put that behind me.
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10:59Simone Biles
11:10Only a handful of Olympians have won more gold medals over the past few years than gymnast Simone Biles.
11:17While Biles qualified for the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, she had several slip-ups along the way.
11:23Biles shared online that she felt, quote,
11:27It's been really stressful, this Olympic Games, I think, just as a whole.
11:31That weight didn't let up heading into the Games, as Biles came down with the twisties.
11:36For the sake of her mental health, Biles made the difficult decision to withdraw from multiple competitions.
11:42Winning the gold is no easy feat, but walking away when you know the pressure has become too much can
11:47be just as hard.
11:48I say put mental health first because if you don't, then you're not going to enjoy your sport
11:54and you're not going to succeed as much as you want to.
11:56So it's okay sometimes to even sit out the big competitions to focus on yourself.
12:01Who are some other athletes who broke under insane Olympic pressure?
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