University of Georgia Athletics
Schmitt Talks Depression Following Olympics
August 05, 2016 | Swimming & Diving
On the eve of her third Summer Games, six-time U.S. Olympic swimming medalist Allison Schmitt hopes her frank talk about depression and loss offers a lifeline to other athletes.
Story by by Bonnie D. Ford
espn.com
Allison Schmitt surfaced from sleep in the middle of the night thinking it might snow on her three-hour drive to central Pennsylvania.
She curled her 6-foot-1 body into a ball and wept. Her thoughts cascaded, frantic: I can't do this anymore. I just don't even want to be here anymore.
If it snowed, she could drift over the lane line and people would think she'd had an accident on her way to see a college hockey game. No one would guess what had gripped her in the moment. She couldn't grasp it herself. She was an Olympic swimming champion, barely treading water.
It was the first weekend of January 2015. She hadn't wanted to come back to Baltimore after the holidays. But here she was, training and using muscle memory to arrange her face into the smile everyone expected of her.
She had a role: She was Schmitty, always upbeat, a regular girl who just happened to swim fast. She put in the work, and when the bell rang, she was a stone-great competitor. The payoff came at London 2012, where she won gold in the 200-meter freestyle -- one of five medals to add to her bronze in Beijing four years before.
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