Olympic boxer Fuchs is a champion against OCD
Print Edition
Ginny Fuchs鈥 obsessive-compulsive disorder sometimes compels her to use a dozen toothbrushes a night, tossing one after another into the trash when she decides they鈥檝e been contaminated. She has spent hundreds of dollars a week on cleaning products, and she sometimes bleaches the bottoms of her shoes.
She even wears baseball players鈥 batting gloves when she does her strength-and-conditioning work with the US Olympic boxing team so she won鈥檛 have to touch the workout mats while doing push-ups.
鈥淚t鈥檚 like this black cloud that follows me every second of my day,鈥 Fuchs said of OCD, which invades the mind with unreasonable thoughts and fears leading to repetitive, compulsive behavior. 鈥淚 always feel like I鈥檓 in this jail of OCD mind that I can鈥檛 get out of.鈥
Yet Fuchs is headed to Japan next month to compete in the Tokyo Olympic boxing tournament, where she realizes it鈥檚 almost impossible to avoid coming into contact with the blood, sweat and saliva of the stranger across from her.
Fuchs is fighting inside and outside the ring these days, both for a gold medal and for mental health awareness. She is determined to speak openly and frankly about a disorder she tried to hide for many years.
Fuchs sees the contradictions in taking her condition into the chaos of a boxing ring. Her OCD has affected all areas of her life, yet it鈥檚 somehow wildly overmatched by Fuchs鈥 desire for gold.
鈥淭his is why OCD is so irrational,鈥 Fuchs said. 鈥淚鈥檓 getting punched in the face, and some spit or blood might get on me. And I understand that, but my mind is, I guess, able to rationalize that. But if I drop my phone on the floor of my house for two seconds, I鈥檒l freak out. 鈥極h my God, I can鈥檛 touch my phone.鈥 I鈥檝e got to use like 1,000 Clorox wipes before I feel like it鈥檚 clean enough.鈥
Fuchs hasn鈥檛 allowed OCD or two Olympic near-misses to deter her from her ultimate goal. After barely failing to qualify for London and Rio, the 33-year-old flyweight finally punched her ticket this year as one of the world鈥檚 top fighters in her weight class.
She is among the favorites for gold in a sport where much depends on the tournament draw and the whims of unpredictable judging, but those inherent uncertainties don鈥檛 consume nearly as much of Fuchs鈥 mind as her OCD.
Fuchs struggled through all of 2018, saying her OCD was 鈥渂eating her every second,鈥 yet she still won bronze at the AIBA world championships in India. She put herself into inpatient care in February 2019, skipping a smaller tournament and only leaving for the qualifiers for the Pan-American Games, where she won silver.
鈥淚 should have stayed there longer, but I just didn鈥檛 know how to control those thoughts anymore, and it scared me,鈥 Fuchs said. 鈥淚 still was able to compete and everything, but personally and mentally, I was going through hell.鈥
Fuchs鈥 determination to speak up against the stigma of mental illness comes at a time when awareness is rising throughout sports. Most notably, four-time Grand Slam tennis champion Naomi Osaka received widespread support when she cited mental health issues in withdrawing from the French Open, Wimbledon and the Olympics.
Fuchs spoke poignantly about her struggle in 鈥淢ysteries of Mental Illness,鈥 a four-part documentary series on PBS. Fuchs was inspired by the desire to create greater access to mental health help for underserved communities embodied in the project.
Fuchs also appeared this year on 鈥淭he Me You Can鈥檛 See,鈥 an Apple TV documentary series produced by Oprah Winfrey. Their cameras followed Fuchs at the US Olympic Training Center, where she has spent years managing her OCD in the dorm-style living conditions in Colorado Springs.
鈥淭he message I want to tell people is, talk about it,鈥 Fuchs said. 鈥淒on鈥檛 be ashamed about it. If you get them to understand it and paint a picture of what you鈥檙e struggling with, maybe they can relate or understand. That's what has helped me. Talking about it actually helped me understand why I might have these thoughts, and why I might do these certain behaviors and rituals.鈥
OCD can subsume Fuchs鈥 life for long stretches, yet she also beats it back at times, particularly during competitions. She can鈥檛 explain the fluctuations or the contradictions.
鈥淢y mind is telling me to clean more, to get back in the shower,鈥 Fuchs said. 鈥淏ut I realize the value of that moment is to recover and get ready for the next fight.鈥
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