The crushing weight of Olympic pressure — and how athletes can prepare for it

MILAN — Ilia Malinin’s face said it all.

As he stood on the center of the ice on Friday following his free skate, he couldn’t hide his angst and confusion, his frustration — and sheer heartbreak.

The gold medal, which just moments before had felt like a near-certainty, was now completely out of reach. Everything he had worked for over the past four years, and a lifetime really, was over in four disastrous minutes.

Malinin, the two-time reigning world champion with an unbeaten streak dating back to 2023, finished in a staggering eighth place. There would be no medal, no place on the podium, just questions from dozens of reporters about what went wrong.

“I thought that all I needed to do was go out there and trust the process that I’ve always been doing with every competition,” Malinin, 21, said. “But of course it’s not like any other competition. It’s the Olympics. It was really just something that overwhelmed me, and I just felt like I had no control.”

While it might be little consolation to Malinin in this moment, he is far from the only high-profile athlete in recent years to fall victim to the unique pressure of expectations at the Olympic Games as the world watches on, especially when expected to win. Simone Biles, the greatest gymnast in history, was sidelined for most of the Games in 2021 as she dealt with the “twisties,” a mental block which creates a loss of awareness in the air. Mikaela Shiffrin, the all-time winningest Alpine skier on the World Cup circuit, has notoriously struggled at the Games. Despite being a favorite for gold in multiple events in 2022, and competing in six races, Shiffrin walked away empty-handed. She hasn’t reached the podium in either of her races in 2026, with one event remaining. And Malinin’s predecessor Nathan Chen, a multiple-time national and world champion, had a devastating Olympic debut in 2018, finishing fifth overall.

Biles and Chen were both in attendance on Friday, and Biles later wrote she was “totally devastated” for Malinin on Threads.

“It’s the magic of the Olympics but with that, for someone like Ilia who was the overwhelming favorite, it’s a different kind of pressure than really for any other competitor out there,” Dr. Wilsa Charles Malveaux, a former Division I track athlete-turned-sports psychiatrist, told ESPN. “And that actually puts him at a competitive disadvantage with all eyes on him. Everyone expects him to be perfect, even though he doesn’t have to be to win, but just knowing that that is the expectation magnifies the pressure to a whole different level.”

---

Since making his senior debut four years ago, Malinin has competed on figure skating’s biggest stages from the world championships to the Grand Prix Final. But 2026 marked his Olympic debut.

He was controversially named an alternate in 2022 following a second-place finish at the national championships, and passed over for an official spot due to his lack of experience.

“I told them they should have sent me to Beijing, then I wouldn’t have skated like that,” Malinin was caught on camera saying as he sat in the kiss-and-cry area on Friday, waiting for his score.

It’s impossible to know what difference that inclusion would have actually made this week in Milan — or the effect of performing four programs, between the team and individual events, in just six days — but his point remains. The experience of the Olympic Games is different, and there is nothing else like it.

The spotlight is magnified. The pressure, the demands — from fans, media and sponsors alike — is incomparable. Even just the experience of staying in the Olympic Village and being around athletes from other sports is wildly different than any other event. Dr. Jessica Bartley, the senior director of psychological services for the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC), said all of the decisions and options that come with the new environment can be overwhelming.

“There are all of these other events and other opportunities that the athletes have access to,” Bartley told ESPN. “Do you want to go watch another sport? Do you want to go to the opening ceremony even though you compete the next day? What is so unique is you’re constantly having to balance taking advantage of all of the once-in-a-lifetime opportunities and make the most of this experience while also competing at your best.”

Speedskater Jordan Stolz, another 21-year-old American with sky-high expectations coming into the Games, has managed to live up to the hype, winning two Olympic gold medals in the 500 meters and the 1000 meters so far. But it’s worth noting that this is his second Olympic appearance. He didn’t medal, or even finish in the top 10, in either of those races in 2022.

---

The USOPC recognizes the specific pressure that comes with competing at the Olympic Games. Bartley explained that her team tries to do its best to prepare its athletes for what they can expect — and the importance of mental training. Athletes from every sport are sent a virtual training before they arrive to the Games, which includes information on everything they need to know from housing to team gear, as well as all of the mental health resources.

While she can’t speak about any athlete specifically, Bartley and the rest of the psychological services department try to connect with as many athletes, and their individual teams, well before Olympic competition. They go to national team camps and other events, attend practices and even hop on buses going to and from Olympic venues in hopes of just making sure every athlete knows they are there and available.

Ahead of the pandemic-delayed 2020 Tokyo Games, the organization introduced a virtual reality experience in an attempt to best replicate what the specific stadiums and arenas would be like without spectators. It’s something the USOPC continues to use now that spectators are back, and athletes have the opportunity to replicate the competition experience, from what the arena looks like to the sounds of the crowd.

As part of a USOPC-required physical examination after being named to an Olympic team, athletes undergo a mental health screening.

“It’s really us asking, ‘What do you need? Do you have a provider? What’s your plan for your mental health? Is there a way we can complement what you’re already doing?'” Bartley said. “And especially when we’re somewhere like here [in Italy], where we’re an eight-hour time difference from Colorado [where the USOPC and many Winter Olympians are based], it’s trying to figure out how we can help when they’re not able to reach their provider at home. We tell them we just want them at their best and to know we’re here to help.”

That also includes Bartley and six other trained mental health professionals on the ground in Italy to provide in-person, on-demand counseling. Through Saturday, she said the group had provided 211 sessions to help athletes before, during or after their competition. (She believes the total number of sessions at the Paris Olympic and Paralympics was around 1,200.) Some are looking for help to lessen the negative, intrusive thoughts, others might just want some advice on resetting before their next race or event. Some have already won or done well, and others are trying to shake off a bad performance. No one is immune to the pressure and its impact.

Of course, it’s up to individual athletes and their teams to what extent they want to use the resources provided. Some do more than others, and what works for one athlete might not work for someone else.

Malinin told reporters he had felt fine ahead of Friday’s free skate, but he was overcome with emotions as soon as he went to take his opening pose.

“I just felt like all the … traumatic moments of my life really just started flooding my head, and there were just so many negative thoughts that just flooded into there,” Malinin said. “And I just did not handle it.”

Charles Malveaux said such a phenomenon is known as “automatic thoughts,” and Malinin is far from the first to experience them. She has never worked with Malinin but said she helps her athletes in finding the root cause and what is behind all of those feelings. From there, it’s finding a way to move beyond them.

“It’s being able to say to yourself in that moment, ‘I didn’t choose this first thought, but I can choose the next one,'” Charles Malveaux explained. “And it’s finding something that you can immediately go to and purposely say to yourself to get past those thoughts.”

In short, negative feelings happen, and sometimes even at the most inopportune times, but it’s all about having solutions at the ready to escape them quickly. The same goes for after an error: How can the athlete turn their attention to what’s next and not dwell on what already happened?

Bartley said that her team at the USOPC emphasized visualization techniques and meditation and mindfulness exercises. She or one of the mental health experts often will help the athlete try to picture exactly what the event and their competition will look like. Often that even includes something as simple as: What will the athlete say to themselves at the start?

“It’s all about putting as many tools on their tool belt as we can,” Bartley said.

Some athletes are able to successfully block out the external pressure and noise and focus exclusively on their own performance or race. But even for those who fall into that category, Charles Malveaux believes mental training is all the more important because anxiety and doubt can creep in at any time and with no prior warning, as Malinin seemingly discovered. It’s better to be prepared for if and when it does.

Swimmer Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian of all time, has repeatedly spoken about visualizing every possible scenario before a race. He then would be able to switch into an almost autopilot mode, because he had already thought of anything that could have come up and was prepared to deal with it.

For some, finding that internal clarity takes longer than others, or isn’t a linear journey. Chen found redemption with an Olympic gold in 2022 and Biles — who was dominant in her Olympic debut in 2016 with a five-medal haul — won three gold medals in Paris in 2024, including in the all-around. For others, it’s more complicated.

Shiffrin, who earned a total of three medals (two golds and a silver) in her first two Olympic appearances in 2014 and 2018, has found glory at the Games elusive in recent years, despite her success nearly everywhere else. The last five years have also been extremely difficult for Shiffrin. Her father died in 2020, and in 2024, she had a horrific crash that resulted in a puncture wound, and she was later diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. The 31-year-old seems to be at peace with her Olympic results.

On Sunday, following a 11th-place finish in the giant slalom, Shiffrin was upbeat — praising the conditions and her competitors. “One of those days you can really enjoy,” she said.

Shiffrin explained she tried to “turn any nervous energy into a sort of intensity” but did not seem disappointed about her result.

In a social media post earlier in the week, Shiffrin was honest in just how difficult the Olympics can be — but seemed proud of how she had handled everything.

“The Olympics ask us to take a real risk on the world stage,” Shiffrin wrote. “One that requires courage and vulnerability to erroneous judgment and narratives built on a limited understanding of what this sport truly demands. And it all matters in the story of becoming the best version of ourselves. …

“I’m grateful to be here, motivated and excited for what’s next, and proud to be part of this American team. May we all champion one another, tread lightly on what we don’t truly comprehend, and have the fortitude to keep showing up.”

It remains to be seen how Malinin will fare in the future. With some experience under him, will he have a Chen-like redemption arc in 2030? Or will the Olympics forever remain the stage that is too bright?

Malinin has not gone into hiding since the competition. He has been spotted around the Olympic Village getting support from other athletes and was even seen in the stands — sitting between Mexican singles skater Donovan Carrillo and Canadian ice dancer and bronze medalist Piper Gilles — at Sunday’s pairs competition. He will reportedly still be participating in the Gala performance over the weekend and, per NBC, will be competing at next month’s world championships.

That might just be one of the best things he can do for himself.

“My goal would be to help [an athlete] to prepare themselves to get back out there, because retreating, it’s going to stay with you. It’s going to stay in your mind, it’s going to stay in your body, and that’s not going to help you to move forward,” Charles Malveaux said. “If you don’t get out there again after you’ve failed or you’ve fallen, you’re creating an even bigger barrier in your mind, a bigger cloud of doubt. Unless there’s a safety issue, it’s usually best just to try again.”