‘It was a real struggle’

In pursuit of his first Olympic berth, national swimmer Michael Gunning says that the mental toll of the past year has left him unmotivated and struggling to find purpose.

In a recent interview with Sky Sports , the 27-year-old Gunning, as part of Mental Health Awareness Week in the United Kingdom, which was from May 10-16, discussed a range of issues, which included the effect the 2020 lockdown had on his mental health having contracted COVID-19, as he returned to full training late last year.

According to Gunning, who is based in the United Kingdom, the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics last year along with the respective qualifiers not only put a pause on the national 200m butterfly record holder’s plans, but the restrictions that followed made him unmotivated to train from home, as athletes were forced to do.

“It’s the uncertainty, no two days have been the same for me. One day I’ve been happy and really motivated, other days I’ve been low and really struggling,” Gunning said. “When the pools and everything shut down, I had no idea where I was supposed to be. I’d find myself lying in bed in the mornings as I didn’t have a routine. Not having that built the pressure even more. I knew that I should be working out and keeping on top of things but I just wasn’t doing it.”

Gunning said that it was the help of best friend and former British swimmer Harry Needs, who not only guided him through the mental toll the pandemic was taking on him, but helped to develop an alternative training regimen that would keep him motivated but also mentally sound.

ANOTHER HIT

However, Gunning’s improved outlook would take another hit when he was diagnosed with COVID-19 late last year, preventing him from seeing his family before a pre-Christmas lockdown and also altered the plans of Needs, who was also planning to visit his daughter.

“We were so good. We didn’t go out, we stuck to the rules. The pools were open back then so I must have caught it at swimming or something that I touched. Everyone got tested around us and they were all fine so we stopped and isolated,” Gunning said.

Throughout this challenging period, Gunning said that he has been encouraged by other athletes who have shared their stories about their own struggles as they seek to preserve their own mental health, while chasing their own Olympic pursuits.

Gunning has plans to compete in Glasgow and Rome in June to make the qualifying standard by the June 29 deadline and says that he is in a much better place mentally to chase his Olympic dream.

“I felt a lot more mentally stable with that. It’s now about doing everything that I can that’s in my control. If I qualify and the Games go ahead, I’ll know that I’ve done everything I possibly can,” Gunning said.

daniel.wheeler@gleanerjm.com