The 21-year-old from West Van will be presented with the Harry Jerome Comeback Award on Wednesday by Sport B.C. and that’s a good thing.
Emily Overholt returned from the 2016 Rio Olympics with a bronze medal, an injured hamstring and the weight of the world on her 19-year-old shoulders.But the other thing, this black cloud that wouldn’t let in any light, was different. What do you even call this thing? She didn’t really know. She just knew it was taking away everything she loved and if she didn’t get help, it would never give it back.
In this line of work we write about concepts such as courage and character; perseverance and resilience. We talk about athletes overcoming obstacles and the life lessons they provide. Then you listen to this young woman tell you what she had, what she lost, and where she is now and you realize those terms have little meaning.
If you get to her Twitter feed, you will see links to a variety of posts and articles on mental health. You’ll also see this from MindHealth B.C.: “I may not be there yet but I’m closer than I was yesterday.”In another year, Overholt will attempt to qualify for Tokyo in a couple of disciplines. Her best event is the individual medley — she finished fifth in the 400 IM in Rio — but she’ll also be in the mix in the relays and freestyle.
But when she got home from Brazil things got worse. A lot worse. She would eventually be hospitalized for 10 weeks before she was discharged in December 2016.“I had this hamstring injury and it was something I could talk about and people could see it,” she says. “Depression is really hard to talk about. People couldn’t see it. I hid it from everyone. It wasn’t until things really got bad that I asked for help.
“It took a long time for me to figure things out,” she says. “I wasn’t ready to go back to swimming. I had to take time for myself.”
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