Retired West Vancouver Olympian Georgia Simmerling today shared a powerful first-person story about her experiences with eating disorders in conjunction with Bell Let’s Talk Day, an initiative aimed at reducing the stigma around mental illness.
Simmerling is a truly unique athlete, the first Canadian ever to compete in three different sports, both winter and summer, at the Olympic Games. Her story today, however, chronicles some of the personal challenges she was having behind the scenes as she excelled in alpine skiing, ski cross, and track cycling.
“There are only a handful of individuals who know this, but I am now ready to share that I suffered from bulimia during the prime years of my athletic career,” Simmerling wrote.
Bulimia nervosa is a mental illness characterized by periods of food restriction followed by binge eating, with recurrent compensating behaviours to “purge” the body of the food, as defined by Canada’s National Eating Disorder Information Centre.
“Most people view me as confident and strong-minded, a woman who’s ‘comfortable in her own skin,’" wrote Simmerling. "I was the athlete who would wear less clothes than the rest of the team. If we were outside, I’d be the first one to take off my T-shirt and work out in my sports bra and shorts. But there are two sides to every story and, looking back on that behaviour, I think I was searching for acceptance from others. The other side of my story is one of shame and self-harm.”
Simmerling goes on to describe how eating disorders crept into her life, giving her a desire to lose weight even as she was competing in alpine skiing, a gravity sport in which being lighter is not necessarily better.
Simmerling is hoping that her story will resonate with others who are facing similar challenges.
“I hope it will encourage someone to speak out earlier than I did, to not carry the burden of shame or guilt or hate,” she wrote. “You are not alone – that’s my overarching message. Someone else is going through something very, very similar. You may think you will be judged, and you might be. I’m sure someone is judging me for this. But no one will judge you more than you have judged yourself. Learning to love yourself is the most important step. And to get to that step, speaking your truth to just one person and accepting love, will start your healing process.”
Simmerling’s full story can be found on the Canadian Olympic Committee website at Olympic.ca.
The National Eating Disorder Information Centre operates a national toll-free help line (1-866-633-4220) that provides information on treatment options and/or support to Canadians affected by disordered eating and related concerns.
