The two-time MotoGP World Champion describes how he was only recently found to have suffered from anxiety during his career
Health problems have dogged Casey Stoner’s athletically successful MotoGP career and led to his retirement at the age of 27. Even after the end of his time as a motor sportsman, the Australian has physical and psychological problems, as he has recently described in detail.
Now the two-time MotoGP World Champion has revealed that he had anxiety issues during his active days. Speaking on the ‘Gipsy Tales Podcast’, Stoner says he was “sick as a dog” and that “the better the weekend went, the more I wanted to die”.
The Australian notes that he hadn’t even been aware of it. “I was only recently diagnosed with anxiety. I didn’t even know it existed. Honestly, I thought it was a thing people imagined. Everyone has stress.”
“Even my back tenses up from these anxiety attacks – between my shoulder blades. I can feel that in certain situations when I’m not feeling well. My career could have been easier if I had known about it.”
“Maybe I could have managed the situation a little better. I got a bad reputation for being a bit closed off to people and the media because I never felt comfortable with them. “
“I never felt comfortable in crowds and all that,” the 45-time Grand Prix winner described. “And then came race day. For years – at least until my last two years in MotoGP – the better the weekend went, the more I wanted to die. “
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”I was literally curled up on the floor in the motorhome, sick as a dog, with knots in my stomach. I didn’t want to race. I couldn’t feel any worse. I felt the pressure from the team and from everyone who helped me. “
“There’s a team of 70 people. When you’re the number one rider and everyone expects you to win every weekend – that weighed on me. I didn’t realise until after my career was over why I had such big problems with that. “
Finally, Stoner has come to the conclusion that he needed to change his personal attitude in life: “You can only do what you can do. That’s all you can do.” During his career, he also struggled with chronic fatigue.
That’s why Stoner had to miss three races in 2009, when he was still riding for Ducati. It later turned out that a lactose intolerance was also a contributing factor.
