What’s It Like to Be an Olympian?

Pre-race nerves, intense comedowns, swooning over superstars in the Village—we talk to five Olympians to find out what it’s really like at the Games.

It’s the ultimate sporting stage that hundreds of thousands of athletes dream of reaching, but only the most talented do. And not only do they realize their dreams, but they become Olympians—a title that is theirs for life. But what’s it actually like to be an Olympian? What does it feel like to be on the start line of a race you’ve been training for for four years? And what are the weird and surprising things that TV viewers back home might have no idea about? 

We spoke to five Olympic triathletes—four of whom competed in the first ever Olympic triathlon in Sydney—to find out the good, the bad, and the downright funny.  

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“It’s Unlike Anything Else You’ve Ever Experienced”

Ryan Bolton was one of an eight-strong team of athletes who represented the USA when triathlon first became an Olympic sport at the Sydney Games in 2000. His Olympic connection remains strong, as he’s now in Paris in his role as the Director of High Performance for USA Triathlon. 

He says: “I remember everything before [the race] being such a different experience. It’s next-level exposure, intensity, excitement—it was all so different to anything I’d experienced before, and you feel like you’re a part of something really big."

It was a similar feeling for Michellie Jones, although the Australian had the added intensity and emotion of it being a Games on home soil. “It was a mix of intense preparation, immense pride, and the thrill of competing at the highest level with the best athletes in the world,” she says. “Plus, it was in my home country and the first medal event on the first day, so…quite a bit of pressure!”

She recalls the energy from the spectators being “unlike anything else” she’d ever experienced. “They were going crazy even when we were warming up. I had never experienced that before. The sense of national pride and the prestige added a unique layer of excitement and responsibility.” 

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For American Joanna Zeiger, who, like Bolton and Jones, was also at the Sydney Games, it all feels like a distant dream now—“it was 24 years ago, after all!” she says—yet it was one that “penetrated her soul.”

“Seeing athletes from all over the world in all different sports was eye-opening in so many ways,” she says. “The race itself was like nothing else I’d ever competed in. There were so many spectators, a rarity in triathlon, that I had to remind myself to keep my eyes on the road and not on the mass of humanity watching from the sidelines.”

It was similar for two-time Olympian Julie Dibens whose first Games was Sydney 2000. “Obviously it was a massive honor and privilege to be there,” she says. “And also surreal in so many ways. I think the coolest part was being part of a multisport event and being around so many awesome athletes from so many different sports. Getting to see some of your sporting idols in person—or even meeting some of them—was amazing.”

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British Olympian Will Clarke, who competed in the triathlon in Beijing in 2008, also remembers feeling like he was part of something special: “The whole experience was fantastic. Beijing was one of the most expensive Olympics ever and the Chinese really put on a big show.” Yet he also recalls quickly going into “execution mode.”

“It definitely feels like a big achievement just to be there,” he says. “But you quickly go into execution mode and all eyes are on getting the best result possible, so it’s really only the days after the race that you can relax and soak it all in.”

It’s Not All Rainbows and Unicorns

Yet for all of its pomp and circumstance, once the gun goes, it’s a race like any other—at least that’s how Bolton felt at the Sydney Games. He remembers the men being lined up prior to the start in the “bowels of the Sydney Opera House” and from the time the gun went off to the time he crossed the finish line “it felt like any other race,” saying: “It was everything else [before and after] that felt so much more significant.” 

And with big emotions and intense pressure also come significant nerves and apprehension. Jones, who won the silver medal in the women’s race in Sydney, said:  “My least favorite part was probably the waiting and the nerves leading up to the race. The anticipation can be overwhelming, and managing those nerves is a challenge.”

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Despite her medal, she said the team’s performance was viewed as a failure, which was also hard to handle. 

It was similar for Dibens who was part of a British team that had been plagued with “political infighting” in the lead-in to the race due to selection decisions, she said. She had also suffered an injury in the weeks before the race.

“Post-race I remember just wanting to get out of there and get home. I think the emotional toll of everything with the build-up, selection, injury, and then the race dynamics definitely left me a little bitter about it all. And with Great Britain getting zero medals the team was seen as a failure despite some of the smaller successes along the way.”

The “comedown” from the Olympic experience was the toughest part for Clarke, who finished 14th in Beijing. 

“I didn’t get the result that I wanted and it took me a good while to pull myself around from the disappointment,” he says. 

Some 16 years later, though, he’s quick to point out that it’s not the disappointments that you hold onto.

He says: “As the years roll on I appreciate the fact that I got myself far enough in the sport that I got to go to Beijing and experience it all for myself. Results aside, I know now that it’s a huge achievement.”

In the days after his race he got to enjoy some of the Olympic experience, and it’s those memories he cherishes: “I was young when I went to the Olympics and my favorite part was the hospitality around the race and celebrating afterwards with my teammates. I also really enjoyed kitting out day, which is where you go and pick up all your Olympic kit for the Games. From memory it was around 45 kilograms [~99 lbs]  worth of kit.” 

Life in the Olympic Village

While many urban myths and rumors abound about what actually happens in the Olympic Village, all of the athletes we spoke to can attest to the fact that there’s an electric atmosphere.

Zeiger says: “The Olympic Village was a spectacle to behold, with so many people from so many sports congregating together for a singular purpose. It was a beautiful thing.”

Jones agrees, saying: “It was amazing to connect with athletes from different sports and countries, all united by our passion for competition. I remember sitting on a bus in the Village with Kathy Freeman and she congratulated me on my medal, and I was like ‘cool, she knows who I am?!’ It was like having the most famous person in the world say well done!”

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Bolton, who’s staying in the Olympic Village in Paris with the Team USA delegation, says it was the village experience that made it all unique during his time as an athlete. 

“That’s where it was the complete opposite of a regular triathlon,” he says. “You were hanging out with Japanese basketball players and French pro cyclists. It was so cool to be a part of something that big and special.”

But it was the free McDonald’s that stands out in Clarke’s memory: “One of the biggest surprises is how much of the free McDonalds athletes like to consume in the Olympic Village. I think it was fairly well known that Usain Bolt was enjoying some chicken nuggets and fries shortly before his 100m and 200m wins.” 

It was also the post-race hospitality that Bolton remembers fondly. At the 2000 Games, the female triathletes had raced on the opening day, the men the day after, so the American triathletes made the most of being able to get tickets to any events on the schedule for the remainder of the Games. 

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“I went to the track and field every day,” says Bolton. “I saw people who I idolized, racing everything from the 800m to the 10K. That was a lot of fun!”

The American athletes were also able to go into certain bars and restaurants in Sydney that were linked to Team USA and eat for free. Bolton says: “Different sponsors would hire a restaurant and we could take family and friends and go eat for free, hopping around Sydney and going to all of these places.”

Once an Olympian, Always an Olympian

For the Olympians who remain closely connected to the Olympic experience now through elite coaching, such as Dibens and Bolton, the connection and the memories are likely never too far from their mind. 

Dibens says: “What’s super cool for Paris is that I have a personal connection I feel with multiple athletes racing, so I’m excited and anxious for all of them.” She is the triathlon swim coach for American athlete Taylor Knibb, who raced the cycling time trial and will race the triathlon on July 31. Triathletes Sophie Linn and Morgan Pearson also train with her triathlon swim squad based in Boulder, Colorado.

For Bolton, it’ll be all work and no play at this Games, unlike Sydney 24 years ago, as he says he’s obligated to fly home as soon as the triathlon events are complete. “I likely won’t get to watch much live, but I’ll get the full Olympic Village experience as I’m staying there. I’ll be watching it all on TV once I’m back home from Paris though.”

And regardless of whether these Olympians are watching the action from Paris or not, as Zeiger proudly says, being an Olympian is a title for life. 

“Being an Olympian is a moniker that can never be taken away,” she says. “The motto of the USOPC (United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee) is ‘once an Olympian, always an Olympian. Never former. Never past.’ 

“While sometimes I forget that I am an Olympian—it just isn’t something I focus on—sometimes something will arise that will conjure up the memories of that time in my life and I always have feelings of happiness and pride.”