5 Olympic Medalists Who Practice Yoga
The closing ceremony for the Beijing Olympics was yesterday, and Team USA is taking home 25 medals– eight gold, 10 silver, and seven bronze. After two weeks of competition, these athletes will go home, recover, and then many will start training for their next competition.
With so much mental pressure and physical wear and tear, it only makes sense that many Olympic athletes add yoga to their training routines, and it is especially important now: when it is time to recover. I truly believe that everybody should be doing yoga – but since we are talking about the Olympics – let’s talk about why athletes should be doing yoga. Starting with the obvious, athletes are placing an intense physical demand on their bodies. The regular practice of yoga will support an athlete in improving functional strength while developing essential flexibility. Lots of times people think of flexibility and yoga and picture contortionist style yoga poses where bodies look more like pretzels. That’s not the type of flexibility we are talking about here. The regular practice of yoga and moving through or holding postures will improve an athlete’s range of motion, balance, coordination, stability, and agility. The practice will both enhance performance and prevent injury.
To address the less obvious, and arguably more important, would be to recognize that the practice of yoga will train and condition the mind, the nervous system and the body's natural response to stress, fear, and pressure. At the Olympic level, the athlete is most likely (at least I hope!) being coached through a physical regiment that develops all of the essential physical elements mentioned above…but as we have seen through athletes like Simone Biles and many others, the attention to mental health is not one that is always treated as a top priority. Yoga is not the only answer to mental health struggles, however it does support the practitioner in achieving peace of mind, living in the present, confronting discomfort, and disengaging reactive behaviors. Yoga is an essential tool to strengthen and soften both the body and mind.
HERE ARE FIVE OLYMPIC MEDALISTS WHO ADD YOGA TO THEIR TRAINING:
Gold medalist Lindsey Jacobellis celebrates gold medal victory during the Women’s Snowboard Cross medal ceremony at the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, Feb. 9, 2022, in Zhangjiakou, China Credit: Getty Images for NBC.
Lindsey Jacobellis
HOMETOWN:Roxbury, Connecticut
SPORT:Snowboarding (Cross)
Lindsey Jacobellis is the big comeback story for the recent Beijing Games. She’s been a top contender in snowboard cross for over 15 years! In 2006, at only 20 years old, she went to her first Olympics in Turin, Italy, and took home the silver medal– which came after a bit of a blunder that cost her the gold. She failed to medal in the next three Olympic games– but she redeemed herself at her fifth Olympic Games in Beijing, winning two gold medals for Team USA, in women’s snowboard cross and the new mixed teams snowboard cross event with partner Nick Baumgartner.
At 36 years old, this achievement made her the oldest US woman to win a gold medal in any event. The secret to her longevity may partly be thanks to yoga, which she has said is really important for her to use at least once a week. In this video with Yoga Universe, she shares some of her favorite poses that she likes to incorporate into her mornings, saying “I use (yoga) as a warm up, right when I get out of bed, a 10-15 minute flow.” She says it helps her “add recovery” and gives her joints some much needed “time off,” and adds that yoga helps by “making yourself aware and present in the moment”-- something that is very important when you’re racing on a snowboard at speeds up to 70 mph.
Lebron James wins his second gold medal for Team USA in 2012 at the London Olympic Games. Credit:: Getty Images from Inside the Games.
2. Lebron James
HOMETOWN:Akron, OhioSPORT:Basketball
We’ve all heard of Lebron James. He’s one of the greatest basketball players of all time (and arguably the GOAT). He has four NBA championship titles, and was the finals MVP each time (2012, 2013, 2016, 2020). In addition, he has three Olympic medals– a bronze from Athens in 2004, and two gold medals: one from Beijing in 2008 and another from London in 2012. At 37 years old, Lebron is still at the top of his game, averaging 29.1 points per game last season with the Los Angeles Lakers (#3 in the NBA).
James’ personal trainer, Mike Mancias, started incorporating more and more yoga into the star athlete’s routine around the same time he was representing Team USA at the Beijing games in 2008 according to Brian Windhorst for Cleveland.com. In that article, Lebron James opens up about his yoga practice, saying "Yoga isn't just about the body, it's also about the mind and it's a technique that has really helped me,” and adds this important advice: "You do have to focus because there's some positions that can really hurt you at times if you aren't focused and breathing right." Mancias focuses on what James needs– and that means incorporating yoga to improve balance and core strength.
Shannon Bahrke poses with her medals on a ski slope. Credit: Outside, Ski Magazine, 2017.
3. Shannon Deanne Bahrke
HOMETOWN:Tahoe City, California SPORT:Freestyle Skiing (Moguls)
Shannon Bahrke made Olympic history in 2010 when she became the first US woman to win multiple medals in freestyle skiing. Naturally, like many winter sports, freestyle skiing is often dominated by the colder and snowier countries like Canada and Norway. Nevertheless, Bahrke made a name for herself and took home the silver medal in moguls at Salt Lake City in 2002 and the bronze medal at Vancouver in 2010. In 2003, she was the Freestyle Ski World Cup Champion. Her event, moguls, is a freestyle skiing competition consisting of one timed run of free skiing on a steep, heavily moguled (i.e. bumpy) course, stressing technical turns, aerial maneuvers and speed.
Agility, endurance, speed, balance, and flexibility are essential elements of freestyle skiing–and yoga can help improve each. During her days of competition, Bahrke began practicing yoga to supplement her training and she continues to practice yoga in her retirement from competitive skiing. Now a mother and entrepreneur (and still an avid skier at 41), she often shares snapshots of yoga poses and handstands on her Instagram. In an interview with Yoga Journal, She describes yoga as refreshing because “everyone lifts you up.” which “doesn’t happen much” in a fierce competition like moguls. She also admits that she was hesitant about trying yoga because she “hated stretching”, but her outlook changed after giving it a try.
“I really don’t think of yoga as stretching when I’m doing it; it’s more about moving in your own body and being centered, and also about feeling strong trying to hold the pose. That was something that really captured me, because I wasn’t just sitting there holding a stretch—I was moving my body, trying to hold a pose.” - Shannon Bahrke
Jamie Anderson celebrates victory after winning the first-ever women’s slopestyle snowboarding event at the Sochi Games in Russia, 2014. Credit: Sarah Brunson/USSA 2014 via Park Record
4. Jamie Anderson
HOMETOWN: South Lake Tahoe, CaliforniaSPORT: Snowboarding (Slopestyle, Big Air)
Before there was Chloe Kim, there was Jamie Anderson. She was the first to win the gold medal in the inaugural women’s slopestyle event at the Sochi Games in 2014 and went on to win the gold medal again at the 2018 games in Pyeongchang. This made her the back-to-back gold medal champion in the new event– which made her the first woman snowboarder to win more than one Olympic gold medal. She also brought home the silver medal for the big air event at the 2018 winter games. Oh, and she’s the most-medaled female competitor in the history of the X Games after winning the slopestyle gold in 2020.
The 2022 Olympic games did not go according to plan for Anderson– she finished in ninth place in slopestyle and failed to qualify for the big air finals. She’s remained open and honest about the pressures and the effects on her mental health, but at 31 years old, she says she’s not finished: “Part of me wants to go work harder and come back and win everything because I know I’m capable ... I’m not retiring right now. That’s for sure.” Fortunately, Anderson has yoga to help her mentally and physically recover. If you check her official Olympic athlete profile, you’ll see that Anderson lists “yoga” at the top of her list of hobbies, along with outdoor sports, surfing, and hiking. She told Yoga Journal about how she makes yoga a “priority” in her training. “For me, it’s all about finding that balance,” Anderson shares. She likes to challenge her whole body and mind with Scorpion and Handstand poses.
For Anderson, yoga also provides mental clarity– which is important to manage the pressures of being an athlete at the Olympic level. “Yoga helps keep me balanced and fits into my lifestyle on and off the mountain. It’s also a huge help when I am traveling and competing. I love to take time before events to clear my head.”
Nancy Kerrigan wins the silver medal at the 1994 Olympic Winter Games in Lillihamer, Norway. Credit: Adam Butler/PA Images via Getty Images.
5. Nancy Kerrigan
HOMETOWN: Stoneham, Massachusetts SPORT:Figure Skating
Stoneham isn’t just home to The Energy Barre– it’s also home to Olympic figure skater Nancy Kerrigan! She has two medals: a silver medal from the Lilliehamer, Norway games in 1994 and a bronze medal from the 1992 games in Albertville, France. Kerrigan was inducted into the United States Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 2004. Her talents made her the target of many personal attacks by her competition– and led to a physical attack on her in 1994, just months before the competition. She managed to recover quickly and still take home the silver medal.
She remains an influential leader in figure skating and an inspiring representation of adversity– and she continues to use her talents in exciting new ways. She competed on Dancing with the Stars in 2017, and currently, she’s working as the executive producer and choreographer on a new drama centered on ice skating. Yoga is part of her training routine today– helping her stay fit and flexible: “I like to do a combination of stretching, cardio, weights, spinning, and yoga. I like to mix it up to keep it fresh and interesting.”
Nancy, if you see this, you’re always welcome at The Energy Barre!
My Take on the Olympics
Something about the Olympics is very nostalgic to me. I’m not sure what it is exactly, but whenever Olympic season comes around, I am taken back to a very specific time and place as a scrawny kid with shaggy hair, back when sports were my life. It’s funny to look back and know that while I was amazed by the athletes and the talent that I would see on the screen, I never felt like they were all that different from me. Like, if I wanted to badly enough, maybe I would find myself at the Olympics one day.
Maybe that sounds arrogant, but I have to love my parents for never putting ceilings on what was possible for me or what I was allowed to believe in. Spoiler alert, I never made it to the Olympics, but I loved the feeling of possibility. I wonder now, with two little boys on snowboards, one playing basketball, and one just starting out with my friends at Inclyousion Sports, what do they think when they watch professional athletes and Olympians?
What did Lebron James’ parents or Nancy Kerrigan’s parents say (or not say) to their children when they were young to help them become a person who performed at an elite level in front of the entire world? Do you think they were yelling “you’re a star” from the sidelines of every game, practice, or run down the mountain? If you have any idea, please let me know! But I know one thing, whatever I want to do, or what my children want to do— I truly believe that yoga can help in any training program.
Try it out!
So maybe you’ve missed your shot at becoming an Olympian, or maybe it’s still too early to tell if your kid will earn an Olympic gold one day…. you can still appreciate the same benefits that draws athletes to yoga.
Try practicing these poses if you like to hit the slopes on your skis or snowboards:
Cat Cow: this pose will warm up your spine, awaken your body and provide relief for your back.
Malasana squat: this deep squat will improve your range of motion and support your flexibility, mobility and stability which is essential when you’re on skis or your board.
If you’re into pick up basketball or you’re spending time at the court with an athlete in training try these poses:
Half Pigeon: you’ll stretch your glutes and piriformis muscles which you will want to be both relaxed and ready when you’re making jump shots and running game on the court.
Downward Facing Dog: One of Lebron’s noted favorites— you’ll strengthen your shoulders and your core while stretching your hamstrings and hips which will help to keep your ball game strong.