Anti-depressants and break from diving: Olympic medallist Noah Williams on his mental health

Despite his Olympic success on Monday, Williams has candidly spoken of the psychological toll that comes with being an elite athlete. Words by ITV News Producer Elliot Turnbull

Noah Williams says his mental health when he's diving "isn’t great", just days after winning silver at the Olympic Games in Paris.

Alongside his men's synchronised 10m diving partner Tom Daley, Williams produced six impressive dives to take home the silver medal.

Despite his Olympic success on Monday, Williams has candidly spoken of the psychological toll that comes with being an elite athlete.

"My mental health when diving actually isn’t great. It takes a lot out of you", Williams said after meeting aspiring divers at London's Aquatic Centre.

"I've got a psychologist, a clinical psychologist and a psychiatrist who give me anti-depressants.

"They obviously support me in any way they can, but depression is not really something that you can fix from the support of people", he added.

In his path to Paris, Williams had to overcome the death of his diving coach. 

In October 2021 Dave Jenkins, the Development Lead Coach for Dive London, passed away.

The impact on Williams was so significant that he considered stepping away from the sport entirely.

"When we won I was thinking about my old coach Dave a lot, it was very emotional", Williams continued.

"He was the nicest person I ever knew. He always came into training with such enthusiasm. I'm really glad we were able to carry on this legacy, and with this medal pay tribute to him.

"He was the first person I thought of after winning".

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As well as overseeing next generation of elite divers, Dave Jenkins gave lessons to thousands of children with Tom Daley's Diving Academy. Credit: British Swimming

Jenkins’ contribution to Team GB’s current diving success goes beyond Williams. He coached bronze medallist Scarlett Mew Jensen, and Kyle Kothari who makes his Olympic debut later this week. 

Despite Williams' success at Paris, his second Olympic Games could be his last.

"I'll have to take a long break after this Olympics and see what I want to do, and what will make me happy. 

"The medal was more to consolidate the 14 years of work I’ve put into diving. It's genuinely made it worth it for me, the sacrifices the parents have made.

"But I don’t think it will change my life if I’m being honest. It’s not like after winning this medal I’m suddenly happy every day.

"Mental health is a strange thing, I don’t know if I will ever not overcome depression, but learn to live with it", he added.

Noah Williams and Tom Daley finished on a score of 463.44, beating Canada in third place. Credit: PA Images

Sam Buck, Coaching Lead for Swim England’s Diving Leadership Group, highlighted how Team GB support their divers.

"We do the best we can. We try to prepare them with pre-competition strategies, dealing with stress and anxiety. We try to give them solutions, and things they can implement in their day to day training.

"When it comes to the big events, hopefully it’s not a huge step forward and a huge ask. It’s another day at the office for them to do their job."

Williams joins fellow Olympians like Simone Biles and Michael Phellps to talk openly about their mental health. 

He hopes that normalising talking about mental health and having an open discussion about athletes’ mental health will help many fellow athletes. 

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