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“It's a fog in my head.” These words, spoken by Nafissatou Thiam to RTBF, travelled far beyond the Tokyo stadium. They rang out as a harsh reminder of what many forget: even the greatest, even the strongest, can be caught in a mental fog.
Three-time Olympic champion, two-time world champion, a figure of excellence, Nafi Thiam built her legend on consistency, control and serenity. But in Tokyo 2025, the symbol cracked. Not through physical failure, but through an inner collapse.
And it isn't a scandal. It is a human truth. One every athlete eventually meets: the day the mind takes over everything else.
Mental fog: when everything blurs inside
In her interview, Nafi talks about a “black cloud” that stayed with her throughout the competition. Negative, persistent thoughts that she tried to chase away, replace, ignore. But the more she fought, the more space the fog took up.
“I couldn't be myself, the Nafi I've always been.”
That sentence says it all. When an athlete loses touch with the version of themselves they know, the one they usually find in the arena, performance becomes secondary. The fight is no longer against others, but against yourself.
That is what mental fog is: a loss of internal bearings. Attention scatters, confidence crumbles, the inner voice changes tone. It is no longer the voice of the champion. It is the voice of doubt.
The invisible weight of context
Many reduced her under-performance to simply “a bad competition”. But that would deny what matters most: the context. Before even setting foot on the track, Nafi was already weakened by deep tensions with her federation. No accreditation for her physio, restrictions around her staff, a dispute over a code of conduct… Peripheral details? Not really. Because what surrounds an athlete is also what feeds their balance.
High-level sport isn't only played out on the track. It is played out in the quality of the mental climate created around the athlete. And when that environment becomes unstable, the brain never lies: it reacts.
Head, body and the break
The mind is what unites all the dimensions of performance: emotion, concentration, decision-making, confidence, memory, regulation. When one element goes off balance, the whole equilibrium can collapse. This is what is called the mind-body rupture. The body is ready, but the mind is no longer there. And in that gap, everything becomes harder: the perception of time, the precision of movement, the management of fatigue. It isn't that the athlete “no longer wants it”. It is that the link between intention and action has broken.
Behind the champion, a person
Before being an athlete, Nafi Thiam is a person. With emotions, fears, doubts and human needs. High-level sport has this cruel demand: it exposes you to the world at the very moment you feel most vulnerable. She could have forced it. Carried on “to save face”. But she chose to listen to her mind and to acknowledge that “it wasn't right”. That choice deserves to be applauded. Because it takes far greater courage than carrying on at all costs.
At AU MENTAL, we often say: performance is also knowing when to stop. Recognising your limits is not a defeat. It is a sign of clarity, a step in rebuilding. Preparing your season isn't just about piling up training hours or adjusting nutrition. It is about learning to understand yourself. Anticipating moments of doubt. Recognising the signs of stress, misalignment and overload. It is this invisible work that allows you to stay steady when everything around you is shaking.
The mind is your foundation. It gives meaning to your discipline, consistency to your game and strength to your identity. It is also what brings you back to yourself when you get lost in expectations, comparisons and judgements.
Nafi Thiam's story reminds us of an essential truth: whatever your talent, your track record or your discipline, if your mind isn't aligned, everything can collapse. But when you learn to make it your ally, you become master of your story again. Because ultimately, you are your own best project. And that project starts on the inside.
Andy Kawaya – Mental coach, bachelor's degree in psychology.
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