Olympian draws dark parallel
Says elite athletes share some attributes with psychopaths
Elite athletes share certain characteristics with psychopaths, according to Britain’s most decorated female Olympian, Katherine Grainger.
The 40-year-old Scot — who defied the skeptics to take silver in the women’s double sculls in Rio to medal in her fifth Games — came to that conclusion when she wrote her dissertation on psychopaths for a Masters in medical law and ethics, to add to her degree in law.
But Grainger, who won gold at the 2012 London Games and then took two years off before returning to the sport, emphasized the similarities only go so far.
“My Masters thesis was on psychopaths but I tried not to link it directly to rowing and my teammates,” she said after returning from Rio this week.
“It is not a direct comparison. But pyschopathy is quite an extreme part of human behavior and the mental side of people and actions and thoughts and deeds, and to a certain extent sport is like that.
’Very passionate’
“People who are very passionate, very driven at what they do and take it right to the limit of human performance. It is always interesting seeing human beings experiencing life at the limit, whatever that limit is.”
Grainger, who won silver in Sydney (2000), Athens (2004) and Beijing (2008), said despite her academic qualifications in legal matters she isn’t sure what career she will choose.
“I’m lucky there are a lot of doors I can open and choose what to do next,” she said.
“The difficult thing is knowing which direction to take next. I’ve got loads of interests and lots of things that excite me about the future.”
Grainger, who at one point looked as if she wouldn’t make the Games as she and sculls partner Victoria Thornley struggled for form, said the past 20 years were extraordinary but it’s time to move on.
“I know I’ll never replace this and I wouldn’t try to replace what has been an exceptional part of my life,” she said.
“I wouldn’t change any of it, but at the same time I’ve got the next part of my life and I really want to be excited about that.”
Now, however, the immediate future belongs with her family, to whom she acknowledges she owes a huge debt.
“They miss out on seeing you,” she said. “There are so many weddings, birthdays, anniversaries and christenings you just don’t get to go to. However, my family has been wonderful because they’ve accepted it over the past 20 years.
“Just like any parents, they want their child to be happy, whether successful or not. It is very, very hard for a parent or a loved one watching an athlete go through the emotional highs and lows and then enter the intense pressure of delivering when the event comes up every four years.
“I know how hard it has
My Masters thesis was on psychopaths but I tried not to link it directly to rowing and my teammates.” Katherine Grainger, Britain’s winningest female Olympian
been for my parents. They’ve been incredible, always very supportive of me coming back and doing it again.
“But I think they need a break from it now.”
Shouts at TV
Grainger is especially looking forward to seeing her twoyear-old nephew, who screamed her home watching her on television.
“Yeah I got photos through from my sister and he knew it was me on the TV,” said Grainger.
“I don’t think he could work out what I was doing on the TV, he doesn’t speak a lot but he knows my name and shouts at the TV with the rest of the family.
“He is one of the first people I want to go back and see as I haven’t spent a lot of time with him in the past two years. My nephew will not know what the medal is for and he doesn’t know what the five rings are, but that is quite refreshing.”
From a professional point of view Grainger said there is no resemblance between the team that represented Britain in Rio and the one she first competed for in Sydney.
“The whole ethos surrounding Team GB has changed,” she said. “There is much more expectation of success. When I won my first medal in Sydney it was the first women’s rowing medal of any color in the Olympics.
“There was huge surprise, but we didn’t know if it would change things. Now it is kind of expected to deliver medals across almost all sports.
“That is such a different mindset to when I started. Back then it was have a go and let’s see if we can make a bit of history.
“Now it is all this responsibility, we have to deliver as this is what we do. It is breeding success.”