However, the four-time Olympian for Team USA did find herself in a battle when she first started experiencing migraine during training for her first games, in 1996 in Atlanta, as a 14-year-old. The Newport Beach, California–native would go on to become the second-youngest medalist in American history that year, winning a gold and two silvers, and become known worldwide for her beaming smile — and teddy bear — on the podium. Little did her fans know that Beard was in pain much of that time.
No One Knew About the Olympian’s Migraine Attacks
“I didn’t talk about it with anybody,” she recalls. “I didn’t know my symptoms were connected to a much bigger health problem. I had no idea what it was. I just thought it was stress, from competition and training.” Beard, it turns out, was experiencing migraine with aura, complete with the visual disturbances, light sensitivity, nausea, and head pain known to be symptoms of the condition. In retrospect, she believes it was the stress of competition — and not intense physical activity, which can be a trigger for some — that brought about her symptoms, at least initially. Still, because of her hesitancy to talk about her symptoms, Beard was well into her thirties before she was diagnosed, long after her days as a competitive swimmer were over. “Most of my migraines came to me visually, although I did get a lot of painful headaches, and if I had to do it over again, I’d have probably mentioned it to someone sooner,” she admits. “But as a competitor, I thought it was just another one of those things I had to tough out, to battle my way through.”
Mindfulness Meditation Gives Her Some Control Over Symptoms
Beard, 38, says now that she experiences migraine episodes “maybe once a week,” and she manages her symptoms using mindfulness meditation. When she feels an episode coming on — “Usually, my vision will start to blur,” she says — she tries to find a quiet, dark place to lie down and practice 10 minutes of breath-focused meditation. “It doesn’t always take the symptoms away, but it allows me to get control over them enough so that my migraines don’t take over the rest of my day,” she notes. Unfortunately, even this simple remedy isn’t always easy, given what Beard does now. The top swimmer is sharing her knowledge of the sport with children between 6 months and 9 years old at Beard Swim Company, the academy she runs in Gig Harbor, Washington, where she now lives with her husband and their two children. “Sometimes, it’s hard to find a quiet place with hundreds of little kiddos around, but I make it work,” she says with a laugh, quickly adding that working with her students is her “new passion.” “I know a lot of people suffer a lot more than that, so I feel very fortunate,” Beard notes. Today, Beard has partnered with the Migraine World Summit to share her experiences and support the many other people in the world who are living with migraine.
Stress Remains a Migraine Trigger for Her
Stress, she believes, is still a trigger for her, although these days it’s a different kind of stress. At heart, Beard is still a competitor and, for her, there’s pressure to make a positive impact on her young protégés in the pool. “In general, I’ve taken a lot of stress off my plate, which has helped a lot, but as a person, you always want to find something that motivates you,” she says. “I put so much into my swim school, working long hours, that it has its own kind of stress. Thankfully, I think I’ve learned how to manage it better.”
Now She Shares Her Lessons Learned With Young Swimmers
Migraines are, in fact, just one of the many challenges Beard has had to overcome throughout her career. In 2012, she released In the Water They Can’t See You Cry: A Memoir, in which she describes her battles with depression and bulimia nervosa. The fact she won seven Olympic medals in all, in four games, almost pales in comparison to what the swimmer has accomplished outside the pool, particularly as an inspiration to others — not that she sees herself that way. “I’m smart enough to know that what works for me doesn’t always work with everyone else,” Beard says. “Still, I try to talk to kids and their parents now about the importance of mental and physical health, about facing challenges head-on, and not giving up.” The swimmer certainly has done just that — both in and out of the pool.
