HBO's 'The Weight Of Gold' To Reveal Olympians' Mental Health Struggles

HBO is releasing a riveting documentary about the mental health problems that Olympians face after the conclusion of the biggest sporting event in the world: the Olympic Games. The documentary is entitled "The Weight of Gold."

The network released a trailer for the documentary, giving a sneak peek at how athletes feel once the games are over. The trailer starts with sports stars like Jeremy Bloom, Shaun White, Sasha Cohen, and Apolo Ohno speaking about what the Olympic Games mean to them and every athlete who aspires to become a legend.

“Athletes have worked their entire lives for this moment,” White says in the clip, while Cohen reveals she wants to do “everything” she can to become the “best skater” in the world.

The athletes also open up about how “40 seconds” could dictate their “lives.”

The trailer takes a more gritty tone as several athletes, including Michael Phelps, talk about the “post-Olympic depression.”

Phelps, a winner of 28 Olympic medals, discloses in the trailer that athletes are just “so lost” as soon as the gates of the Olympic village are closed. The iconic swimmer also noted that almost 80% of the sportspeople suffer from depression when the games are over.

“We are just so lost. A good 80% or maybe more go through some kind of post-Olympic depression. I just thought of myself as a swimmer and not a human being. That’s where I was just like why don’t I end it all,” Phelps says in the trailer.

The clip shows several athletes training and practicing their respective sports. They also share how depression has made them feel weak on numerous occasions.

Bode Miller, an Olympic gold medalist in skiing, says in the video that the media is one of the reasons behind an athlete's mental health problems. “Media loves building someone up and then come crashing down,” Miller says in the clip.

Meanwhile, Lolo Jones gets emotional while saying that she has given all her “blood” to the sport and all she is asking for is some help so she can get through all the mental health challenges.

The clip ends with Phelps saying, “We are humans.”

Filmmaker Brett Rapkin believes that the documentary has allowed him to learn about something that he was never aware of.

“Unfortunately, this particular project involved unexpectedly learning about a serious mental health crisis that I was not previously aware of: Post-Olympic depression,” Rolling Stone quoted Rapkin, as saying.

The documentary will also feature interviews with Katie Uhlaender, Gracie Gold, Jonathan Cheever, and David Boudia.