A three-time NCAA individual champion and member of two national championship teams, Mary Tucker has long been a force to be reckoned with in the world of shooting. Her Olympic silver medal at the Tokyo Games in 2021 was further proof of her talent.
It was also a turning point for her mentally, coming from what she described as a difficult place. Despite winning a silver medal in the mixed-team air rifle event, Tucker realized that she needed to make significant changes to her life and approach to the sport. The pressure, the expectations and the intense training regimen had taken a toll on her mental and physical well-being.
"It took me a really long time to try and overcome some mental health stuff," said Tucker, who competed for Kentucky and West Virginia. "I just had to really realize after Tokyo that I wasn't in a place I wanted to be. I just was kind of lost."
The journey to self-discovery and healing wasn't easy, but Tucker knew it was necessary. Her willingness to speak openly about her struggles with mental health has also been a significant part of her journey. When she first started in the sport, she remembers how rare it was for athletes to talk about mental health issues. She's glad to be a small part of the cultural shift specifically among Olympic athletes.
"No one really could understand what I was trying to figure out. It got to a point where there were a couple of times I really wanted to quit because I was just like, 'I can't do this. It's too much,'" she said. "Being in that position is somewhere that I don't feel like anyone should have to be in. So I take a lot of passion in youth sports. I think if we, as the older generation, create a culture where we do set the guidelines of forgetting how we did and we talk about the things that might be wrong, the younger generation is going to be able to say, 'Hey, I need help.'"
Since then, Tucker has adjusted her training regimen, focusing more on mental training, strength and conditioning. This balanced approach has not only improved her performance but also her overall well-being.
"My training has changed significantly from before Tokyo to now before Paris. Before Tokyo, I was training five or six hours a day, six days a week. I did that for about four years straight," she said. "That was a really heavy load."
Tucker helped earn a silver medal in the mixed-team air rifle event at the Tokyo Olympics. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)
While some of those unsustainable training habits were formed during her college career, she still reflected positively on her time as a student-athlete.
"I wouldn't trade it for anything," she said. "Honestly, I had a lot of ups and downs. When I started out, I was a completely different person from who I am now. So I really thank the NCAA and the colleges that I've been to for shaping me into who I am and giving me the platform to both find that person that I am, but also to kind of outreach and talk to communities that care about what we're doing."
Tucker took advantage of her platform following Tokyo by posting about her mental health struggles. Despite some backlash she received, Tucker feels good about the impact her efforts can have.
"I think there's a little bit of stigma around athletes and mental health specifically because athletes kind of are portrayed as having a little bit of an easier life. The more that I was in sports, and the more that I made friends and met athletes in other sports, I realized that it's something that every athlete struggles with, and it's something that everyone in some aspect does deal with," she said. "I was kind of the first shooter who started talking about it. I made a big post, and it blew up. A lot of people were really upset about it because I was actually saying that I'm struggling, I'm having a hard time.
"It got to the point where other athletes are like, 'Actually, I'm also struggling,' and they were able to really resonate with what I was saying. Now they're able to share their own stories and youth athletes are talking to older athletes, and nobody's having to go through anything alone."
Coming out of the Tokyo Games, where she also experienced an event where her rifle malfunctioned, Tucker feels better prepared in several ways to compete at her highest level.
"Now it's finally to the point where it's like my mind is good, my body is good," she said. "I feel good or ready to go."
After celebrating her silver medal victory in Tokyo, Tucker turned her attention to her mental health and serving as a role model for other athletes.
