Australian Olympic gold medalist Emily Seebohm has spoken candidly about her recent battle with an eating disorder.
Speaking on SEN Drive, Seebohm, who took to Instagram earlier this month to make it public, revealed she had second thoughts about going public with her battle.
“I felt like it’s this kind of thing that is almost better to keep private,” Seebohm said.
“No one knows what you’re doing, no one understands, so you just keep it to yourself and pretend like it’s not really happening.
“The moment I knew I wanted to reveal it was the moment I realised I wasn’t going to be the only athlete dealing with it.
“I thought, when I was a youngster, what would I want people to tell me? Someone to tell me it’s not about how skinny you look, or how different your body is to someone else’s. It doesn’t determine who’s going to swim fast or not."
The current 100 and 200 metre backstroke Australian record-holder, who will aim to compete in her fourth Olympic games after claiming gold at the Beijing and London Olympics, said that while the initial feedback in response to the post was positive, she is yet to hear from anyone at Swimming Australia.
“It was pretty overwhelming when I posted it,” Seebohm said.
“Within an hour I wanted to take it down, but I realised it was better for me to leave it up so people could see what I was dealing with.
"I thought if people were aware then it might change how people say things to me or help people understand if I’m not feeling good.
“I think there’s one or two (people at Swimming Australia aware of my struggle), but I haven’t had anybody reach out to me in an official capacity.
On the topic of the Tokyo Olympics, Seebohm admits she’s not sure if the event will go ahead.
“I don’t really know, it’s such an interesting time,” Seebohm said.
“Obviously I’m training as if it’s happening, but it’s hard to picture everyone coming together for an Olympics.
“I was preparing for the Olympics before everything got shutdown, which really threw everything up in the air.
"My aim was to retire in 2020 and to retire at the Tokyo Olympics, and then COVID happened.
“But my mind is still on training and preparing as though it’s going to go ahead.”
The Tokyo Olymic Games are scheduled to begin on the 23rd of July and run through the 8th of August after last years event was postponed.