HBO’s ‘The Weight of Gold’ tackles mental health for Olympic athletes

Having won 23 gold medals across his career, swimmer Michael Phelps is the most decorated Olympian of all time. However, all the fame and success in the world could not spare him from suicidal thoughts. And while Phelps has previously opened up about his post-Olympics depression, he raises even more awareness in his new documentary, The Weight of Gold.

The HBO film tackles the struggles Olympic athletes face after finding their purpose in a sport that will inevitably be taken over by someone who is faster and stronger in the end. Furthermore, it shows how this and other factors cause elite athletes to spiral into depression — and that they’re given few resources to cope with it.

The documentary’s opening feels a little disconnected from the rest of the story. Phelps, via voiceover, reminds viewers that the 15,000 athletes set to compete at the 2020 Olympic Games were forced to watch their dreams crash down after COVID-19 struck, and the event was postponed to 2021. He touches on the adverse effects this has on an athlete’s mental health and uses this a segue to talk about the mental health struggles past Olympic competitors have confronted. 

The loose connection to modern times suggests that The Weight of Gold was originally meant to be released in conjunction with the 2020 Olympic Games. Because Phelps goes with this angle, it would have been helpful if he had given a spotlight to hopefuls who didn’t get to compete in the Olympics this summer. Despite skipping over the feelings of hopeful athletes, however, the content that follows remains compelling and important.

The narrative has an even flow that naturally builds up to its conclusion.

Besides the 2020-specific opening, the narrative has an even flow that naturally builds up to its conclusion. It begins with archival footage of the athletes anticipating the Olympics as kids. It takes a step forward by showing how a sport is the only thing that matters in an Olympic hopeful’s life. It then explains that Olympians get little financial assistance and are oftentimes deep in debt. Lastly, the documentary ties this around to the depression that comes as a result of focusing on a singular sport for years, making it to the top, and then having that identity stripped away, regardless of whether or not they win the gold.

The Weight of Gold finishes with an affecting takeaway: Olympic athletes are overwhelmingly depressed, people outside of elite sports are depressed, and the stigma around mental illness needs to end so everyone can openly get help and move forward.

While this message in itself is vital, it’s also well communicated. Phelps is conscious of the fact that most viewers aren’t Olympic athletes, and he makes sure to connect the experiences of Olympians to people who aren’t famous in sports. In making the mental health of everyone the most important thing, the documentary takes on a relatable perspective that will hopefully encourage individuals to seek help, no matter who they are.

The film’s other noticeable strength is its slick presentation. The interviews of athletes — including Jeremy Bloom, Gracie Gold, Bode Miller, Shaun White, Sasha Cohen, David Boudia, Katie Uhlaender, and Steven Holcomb in a posthumous appearance — are smoothly combined with exciting competition footage, vivid photos, and theatrical B-roll. It all feels cinematic. 

But although The Weight of Gold does a lot of right things, there are a few elements it could have added to become even better.

The documentary’s biggest missed opportunity is that it could have been used to destigmatize mental illness as it relates to people of color. The featured athletes are overwhelmingly white — and while it does feature interviews with speed skater Apolo Ohno, who is half Japanese, and hurdler/bobsledder Lolo Jones, who is biracial, nothing is said about how mental health specifically applies to athletes who aren’t white. 

Because there is a lot of stigma surrounding mental health as it relates to certain communities of color, hitting this topic could have added a deeper layer to the already strong narrative. In fact, some Black athletes, including gymnast Simone Biles, have already talked about how the postponement of the 2020 Olympic Games could negatively impact an athlete’s mental health. Adding in a viewpoint such as hers would have allowed Phelps to complete his opening connection to the coming Olympics in addition to elevating the experience of a Black Olympian.

In addition, the documentary is made for an American audience, and so everyone interviewed is American. This is understandable; however, voices from additional cultures could have shown that depression is not limited to a certain nationality. Adding in athletes from other countries could have also increased the racial diversity and offered unique insight into how mental health is stigmatized across the world.

The more confusing feature of the documentary is how it handles the role the Olympic Committee plays in athletes’ mental health. 

The more confusing feature of the documentary is how it handles the role the Olympic Committee plays in athletes’ mental health. Many of the retired Olympic competitors talk about how there are few mental health resources open to Olympic athletes after their careers are over. They say that while there are plenty of professionals who are ready to help current Olympians stay mentally strong, there aren’t any who want to help them deal with problems outside of their sports. This seems like a big issue, yet the documentary never really investigates it — and even more surprisingly, it ends with a link to mental health resources for elite athletes on the Team USA website as if the organization’s unhelpfulness was never discussed. Huh? Is there a bigger story here that’s not being fully fleshed-out? It looks like Team USA assembled a new Mental Health Taskforce in April, but this was never talked about inside the documentary. This context would have been beneficial.

Despite these flaws, what is discussed in The Weight of Gold is nonetheless important, and if the documentary does anything, I hope it will act as a starting point for even more athletes to come forward and encourage others to get help.

I’m a sucker for a good Olympic sports story. I also appreciate content that aims to end the remaining stigma around mental health. Particularly because The Weight of Gold accomplishes the latter of these two things, I can recommend it. However, it’s important to realize in viewing the documentary, that there are many more stories not shown on the screen that are also worth hearing out. The conversation surrounding mental health, including the ways in which it relates to Olympic athletes, must continue. This is a solid start.

The Weight of Gold premieres July 29 at 9:00 ET on HBO.