Olympic fever has infected the world but what happens after athletes step down from the podium? New research has found that, in some instances, those who develop osteoarthritis hit the bottle.The study, which involved surveying 624 former elite athletes, including South Africans, found that this form of arthritis was associated with symptoms of common mental disorders among the sporting stars of yesteryear.Mike Lambert, of the University of Cape Town, was among the academics involved in the study, which was led by Nanet Schuring, of the Academic Centre for Evidence-Based Sports Medicine in Holland.Osteoarthritis is a joint disease affecting mostly cartilage. The study highlighted that it was the 10th-most common cause of disability in high-income countries."The most important finding is the association between osteoarthritis and distress, sleep disturbances, adverse alcohol use and common mental disorders among former elite athletes," the researchers said.They concluded that monitoring the disease among former athletes should be increased and "strategies to prevent symptoms worsening" be developed.South African sports scientist Tim Noakes said: "I suspect osteoarthritis is more prevalent than we recognise, especially of the knees and hips of people who play contact sports."Athletes adapt better to chronic conditions than non-athletes because they often see it as another challenge, another race."..