By Kyle Merber
October 4, 2023
Do you remember how the occasional episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air that would unexpectedly hit you over the head with some real-life shit? I came to watch Will chase girls, but occasionally, 10-year-old-me stayed to learn about the realities of being Black in America.
Well, a podcast that started a couple of years ago mostly to assign silly nicknames to their competitors had a real one this past week. For those who are not regular listeners, the COFFEECLUB podcast is essentially a recorded version of the sort of conversations you might have with teammates on a run. Sometimes that means transparently talking about how we all really feel about what’s happening in track and field, and other times it’s cheerleading for your friends after a tough race.
This week Olli Hoare opened up in a monologue about his journey from discovering his passion to becoming a 3:47 miler and Commonwealth Games champion. It’s his story to tell, and I encourage you to listen, but as a warning to sensitive listeners, it details his experiences with being bullied, suicidal thoughts, depression, and other heavy topics that are rarely articulated by world class male athletes during the peak of their career.
Being bullied is an unfortunate commonality among many distance runners. While there is a range to it, a lot of us who grew up in the sport were mocked at one point for wearing short-shorts or for not playing a “real” sport. But for any readers who didn’t grow up when the internet was a constant presence in life, the nature of bullying has changed.
A lot of the bullying has shifted from the occasional in-person put-down to a steady deluge of unwanted online commentary or harassment. When running is your everything, and the sport and its “fans” have seemingly turned on you, having non-runners in your life to support you and remind you there’s more out there is crucial.
Seriously… seeing some of the comments from high school kids on the public side of the internet today should give a hint to the type of mistreatment that is happening behind closed doors. This isn’t 2006 when kids might not have didn’t realized that your digital footprint would follow you forever and could have severely negative real-world implications. These kids know that now!
Over the past few years we’ve made a big push toward transparency. It’s not as taboo to discuss the difficult realities that many athletes face. Hearing that a professional athlete was so unhappy during the best season of his life that he was quietly contemplating retirement will resonate with so many. Even ten years ago, when I was suffering in silence with insomnia that turned out to stem from anxiety around my “job,” it would have made a world of difference to hear a story like Olli’s, and probably would have led to me addressing my issues sooner.
Kyle Merber
After hanging up his spikes – but never his running shoes – Kyle pivoted to the media side of things, where he shares his enthusiasm, insights, and experiences with subscribers of The Lap Count newsletter, as well as viewers of CITIUS MAG live shows.
