Mental Health Issues Causes Olympic Cycling Champion To Quit
The Olympic champion quit the sport in March, having initially announced he would be taking a break from cycling. Callum Skinner says he retired from elite cycling because there was…
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – AUGUST 14: Silver medalist Callum Skinner of Great Britain poses for photographs on the podium at the medal ceremony for Men’s Sprint on Day 9 of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at the Rio Olympic Velodrome on August 14, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)
(Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)The Olympic champion quit the sport in March, having initially announced he would be taking a break from cycling.
Callum Skinner says he retired from elite cycling because there was too much focus on performance and "not enough on getting better" when he told bosses of his mental health problems.
The 26-year-old, who won team sprint gold and sprint silver at Rio in 2016, said he was still targeting Tokyo 2020 after taking some time out last summer, before deciding to step away from the track for good.
The 2018 Commonwealth 1km time trial bronze medallist says he was "going through a pretty tough time" and revealed to the management team at British Cycling that he was "suffering from pretty serious mental health issues". He says the conversation then turned to how long his break could be before it would rule him out of the Olympics in Tokyo in 2020. "At that point I decided just to bow out," Skinner says.
Last year British Cycling said it would make changes to be more caring to riders following a damning 2017 report into allegations of bullying and a "culture of fear" that put the pursuit of medals above the welfare of athletes.
The governing body has since launched a new mental health strategy in a bid to support the mental health and well-being of its athletes.
