Carli Clearing Barriers | Mental Health Month

From life-saving surgery in an operating theatre to the call rooms of major championships across the globe, Sarah Carli has experienced more than most. The Olympian is now using her platform to share the story of how mental fitness unlocked a physical miracle, and how the skills are applicable to everyday life.

As a team of eight doctors removed a vein from her thigh to patch the artery in her neck after a freak accident in the gym in February of 2021, Carli appeared to be the hard-luck story of the year. Forced to rest as her body healed, the hurdler quenched her instinctive thirst for progress with a newfound focus on her mental health – the catalyst of an unlikely comeback and now passion.   

“I had to do a lot of work on my mental health to make sure that I could get back. The hardest part was that I had all these restrictions on what I could do, it was almost like it was invisible. The consequences of not doing what the medical team had told me were quite severe,” Carli said.

Told that exercise was not possible for five months post operation, Carli operated on her own timeline with four months until she would race to book her ticket to Tokyo – proceeding to make her Olympic debut under the most unlikely of circumstances.

“I felt like I had this giant hill to get up. Any injury when you are in the thick of it feels like it’s never going to get better, but through practicing gratitude and mindfulness I was able to know that it was going to get better. Looking back now it’s just crazy to think that was only 18-months ago,” Carli said.

With many of the strategies and skills utilised by Carli aligning with the AIS’ Mental Fitness Program, the 28-year-old became an ambassador to work in sporting and school-based communities to improve wellbeing outcomes for young people.

“It’s amazing to see what the schools are doing! They are really pushing these programs and the kids are really adapting to these things and are interested, which is definitely helping to lift the stigma,” Carli said.

“The things that I have learned from high performance sport, I do in everyday life. The things that make sport hard often aren’t from sport, they are from day-to-day life – it’s always transferable.”

Juggling her athletic pursuits with the program and working as a financial planner, Carli struck the perfect balance in 2022 to qualify for the semi-finals of the 400m hurdles at the World Athletics Championships and finish sixth in the final at the Commonwealth Games.

“Everyone always says that a happy athlete runs well. You need to have those things in place to make sure that your life outside of sport is also a priority and I am thriving there too,” Carli said.

While a fresh set of ambassadors are set to join the AIS’ Mental Fitness Program, Carli’s work in the space continues with visits to schools and companies – providing insights into the strategies that have assisted her in navigating a unique range of experiences.

“Being an athlete and with my own personal experiences, I have really been enjoying sharing that story as a whole,” Carli said.

Mental Health Month runs throughout October in Australia and is an important time where the community comes together to raise awareness and promote better mental health for all.

You can read more about Sarah’s comeback in 2021 HERE.

By Lachlan Moorhouse, Athletics Australia
Posted: 14/10/2022