IOC COMES UP WITH MENTAL HEALTH TOOLKIT

Given that one in three athletes can experience a mental health issue, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) released a toolkit on it on Thursday. The IOC Mental Health in Elite Athletes Toolkit is a combined effort of different IOC units such as the medical and scientific commission, the athletes’ entourage commission, the mental health working group and the athletes’ commission. Olympic champions Abhinav Bindra, Sergey Bubka and Kirsty Coventry were involved in the project along with Dr Uegur Erdener, head of the IOC’S medical and scientific commission.

Not just the athletes and their entourages, the toolkit aims to help sports federations, Olympics and Paralympic committees and health care professionals “to develop and implement initiatives related to the protection and promotion of mental health and well-being in elite athletes”.

The toolkit also looks at the role of the family, physios and trainers’ role in early detection of mental illness in athletes.