The discussion about mental health has taken a huge spike in all spheres of life, especially sports. Sports personalities constantly go through several kinds of pressures as they directly get the feedback of their input in tournaments. Things get even harder when sportspersons go through a life-altering event like an injury or motherhood. A similar life-altering event seemed to be bothering one of America’s elite triathlon stars. 

A closer inspection of her problems, however, yielded a completely different finding. USA’s iconic triathlon athlete Chelsea Sodaro recently chose to break her silence on the inner demons consuming her. The World Champion spoke about her journey towards better mental health, and her struggles with motherhood.

Triathlon star speaks up about an undiagnosed disorder

Chelsea Sodaro lifted a paralyzing curse from the triathletes of the United States by breaking a 20-year title drought. The then-33-year-old’s victory at the 2022 Kona Ironman World Championship took a lot of struggle, hard work, and sacrifice. While the triathlon World Champion was processing the happy emotions and her experiences of struggle, a third force was running rampant in her head. Sodaro was already struggling with postpartum pressure and guilt, but things took a turn when she got diagnosed with anxiety disorder. 

The elite US triathlete recently spoke to the Olympics.com and broke her silence on her mental health problems. Sodaro said, “If I am kind of reflective on my life, it’s probably always been there at some level, but I just called it like stress… I think it’s not until I had my daughter where I became very aware of how that was impacting the people around me and how I wasn’t able to show up for her in the way that I wanted to.” This deeply strained the mental health of Sodaro, but she later sought help for her condition.

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Sodaro initially tried to sleep her situation off, but it didn’t help, following which, she received treatment in December 2022. This allowed her to finally feel at ease. The triathlon star also added, “I think I have a level of acceptance, though these are things that I’ll probably be dealing with my whole life. I don’t think there’s a cure.” While Sodaro has now come to terms with her condition, there was a time when things had turned really scary. In fact, she constantly feared that she and her baby would get killed in a mass shooting.

From anxiety to OCD

The heightened levels of anxiety experienced by Chelsea Sodaro made her very scared for her baby. She was continuously bombarded with thoughts of being caught in a mass shooting. This was a symptom that mental health experts traced back to the development of an obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The triathlete revealed that public mass shootings are a huge concern in American society. Thus, her anxieties easily picked up on that fear. 

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The societal pressures she experienced were also the root of her problems post-childbirth. Sodaro revealed how she always struggled to keep her triathlon career active while being a perfect mother. Her world championship victory, however, ended up being an iconic one that also allowed several mother athletes to find faith. Today, the triathlete fortunately has the help she needs. While she knows that her problems will never really vanish, she will no longer be crushed by feelings of guilt like before.

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