\n<\/p>\n
Olivier had previously experienced mental health struggles when she was 18, before she met her now husband Gerhard.<\/p>\n
The support she received from him, both during that period and more recently, was crucial.<\/p>\n
“When he met me I was actually quite suicidal,” she said.<\/p>\n
“For many years I never understood why he stuck around because I was this crazy chick and I was just dark and terrible to be around.<\/p>\n
“This was similar, except for the fact that I had promised myself I would never allow myself to fall that deep again.<\/p>\n
“That was why I was able to identify this was a bad spiral. He was there again and I am eternally grateful.”<\/p>\n
From the middle of 2022, Olivier was “doing really well”, with her improvement showing in her competitive performances, but then medical issues in her family impacted her mental health.<\/p>\n
On the final day of last August’s World Canoe Championships in Germany, Olivier received the dreadful news that her mother had been diagnosed with cancer and had been taken to a hospital emergency room.<\/p>\n
“I knew she was ill before we left [South Africa], but we didn’t realise how sick,” she said.<\/p>\n
“Her colon had burst. They found she had stage four cancer.”<\/p>\n
Olivier travelled to Paris for another event but was unable to compete amid worries about her mother, and a follow-up operation to remove the cancer was unsuccessful.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey ended up saying they can\u2019t do anything,” she said.<\/p>\n
“We are still busy with that fight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Just three days later, Olivier learnt that her aunt was battling sarcoma cancer and required a leg amputation.<\/p>\n
“I got back from Europe and had to go through that with her. All of that short-term stress triggered me again and was horrendous.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n