Team GB star Billy Morgan reveals the mental health struggles hidden by his 2018 Winter Olympic glory

Billy Morgan was Team GB’s showman-in-chief but he admits he was privately struggling with the big stage lights when he landed Winter Olympic bronze.

Morgan became the first British man to win a medal on snow when he made the podium in the snowboarding Big Air event four years ago in PyeongChang.

He recovered from a knee injury to narrowly make the team but when he arrived in Korea he suffered an ear infection that became so badly blocked he complained of dizziness - not ideal when flinging yourself off a 60 metre ramp at 50mph.

His build-up to the Games was also impacted when his former Royal Marine dad, who he dubs Mad Eddie, suffered an aneurysm that almost killed him.

“I’ve probably only realised after retiring from competing how I was dealing with my mental health, trying to distract myself rather than talk about it,” said Morgan.

“I was really struggling before PyeongChang with just the stress and anxiety of it all. All those scary tricks started to get on top of me, I was coping with stuff off the snow too. I just had a big psychological wobble but I was really good at pushing things to one side.

“In extreme sports you kind of learn to live with the fear, you have to try to force yourself to love it. I always thought if I wasn’t scared that would be when things were dangerous, when I’d really hurt myself. I supposed I needed that fear to keep me in the middle ground.

“When Simone Biles spoke about it in Tokyo I absolutely understood where she was coming from, if you’re not feeling right then you shouldn’t do it, especially when your health is on the line.

“I think it’s important if you have things you need to address that you feel you can take a step back - it’s just sports people aren’t designed to think like