Three-time Israeli swimming Olympian Murez works on project to better national teams' mental health

NANTERRE, France (AP) — Israeli Olympian Andi Murez won't have any time to stick around Paris and see the sights.

Now that the veteran swimmer has wrapped up her third Olympics this week, she will head almost straight to Minnesota to begin her next major project: She's starting her residency program in psychiatry at the Mayo Clinic and already arriving a little late.

Murez eventually wants to help implement a mental health program for all of Israel’s national teams — and given the Middle East crisis, she knows the right timing is now.

“After the war there will be a huge need in addition to sports stress,” said Israel swimming's technical advisor David Marsh.

“Andi represents so much of what is great about our sport. As she has progressed in improving her swimming times, she has been progressing in her career goals and all the while growing into a confident woman that is a difference in the world.”

The 32-year-old Murez is a sprint freestyle specialist who competed in the 4x100-meter mixed medley relay preliminary heats Friday at La Defense Arena. Her team didn't advance to the semifinals. Selected as Israel's female representative to carry the flag for the opening ceremony, this was her lone event of the Paris Games.

“I think I wake up every day in the village and think how fun this is and how much my life is about to change in terms of schedule,” she said, smiling. “It's just been really fun. It was such an honor to carry the flag. I think I just received so much support from Jews around the world, from Israel back home. I'm just trying to enjoy every day.”

She has been balancing medical school and professional swimming back home, graduating from Tel Aviv University in the spring of 2023 after she took a break from courses to train for the delayed Tokyo Olympics.

While Israel’s sports governing body, The Israel Athletics Association, regularly discusses the importance of mental health support throughout its national team programs, everybody is thrilled for Murez to become a leader in the efforts. She already has a research project underway, and her goal is that one day annual mental health checks will go hand-in-hand with athletes' yearly physicals.

In addition, she intends to translate an International Olympic Committe mental health survey into Hebrew. It looks at all the varying components to well-being, such as mood, sleep, eating, drugs and alcohol, she said.

“Looking at the elite athletes on national teams and just sort of creating a baseline of mental health for Israeli athletes because nothing like that really exists right now," she said, “so I feel like that would be a good starting point.”

Murez received permission from the Mayo Clinic to delay her start from July 1 until after the Olympics, and Murez appreciates that support. She plans a quick stop in Los Angeles to visit family before making her way to Rochester.

Murez took a pre-med path at Stanford and graduated in 2013. She has found that her studies give her a much-needed break from the pressures of the pool and competition — not to mention providing perspective that if one thing doesn’t work out, she can still fall back on the other.

“This year while I was training, being able to leave the pool and just think about other things and do other things, just being able to step away and think about something else really helps me,” she said. “It was very crazy that I was in medical school and in the Olympics and doing both, and I wouldn’t necessarily recommend such intense passions in two different areas, but I do think there’s something about having balance."

Murez raced her relay with current Stanford swimmer Ron Polonsky, one of those very athletes she hopes to positively influence.

“It’s amazing. It’s always nice to have someone experienced you can look up on for advice,” he said. “I would be happy to work with her, the more (mental health focus) the better.”

And Murez has developed her own “coping strategies.” Mostly, she leans on experience.

“I have this career that I’ve set up for myself,” she said, “so this isn’t the end of the world if I don’t perform as well as I want.”

In mid-July during training camp in Naples, Italy, Israel’s swimmers held a team meeting and the coaches mentioned how some previous Olympians might offer some advice to the youngsters who have never before been on this big a stage.

Murez pondered this all day, and realized she almost feels like a first-timer again experiencing everything.

“Because I went to medical school and stepped away from swimming for some time, I feel like there might be a similarity between my first Olympics and this one,” she said. “I feel like there’s this gratitude and just enjoying the process of this one.”

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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games