Whether planned or unplanned, retirement is inevitable for an Olympian.
“It’s the only inevitability. It doesn’t matter how successful you are as an athlete or how long or short your career is. Once you start, the only guarantee is that at some point it will stop,” former athlete Katherine ·Katherine Grainger said.
While Granger was able to retire on his own terms, other elite athletes such as Andrew Steele were not.
The former British sprinter won a bronze medal at the Beijing Olympics but narrowly missed the London Summer Games due to an injury sustained at the start of the year.
Steele told CNBC Sports: “Missing the London Olympics in 2012 was almost like the death of a close family member. It was so painful because my whole identity was tied up with the fact that I was an Olympian.”
“I didn’t really know how to interact with society because I felt like my whole identity and my whole value just completely exploded,” he added.
The sports world is slowly focusing on the extra support retired athletes need, whether it’s planning their next steps or mental health.
“Historically, athletes don’t get real attention when they retire. The sports world just ignores them,” said Ben Bloom, a sports journalist who covers the Olympics.
“In the last 10-20 years, planning for the future of your career has become even more important. There are a lot of programs and educational coaches that can help athletes prepare for what they are going to do,” he said.
So, how do Olympians reinvent themselves after their athletic careers are over? Watch the final episode of The Business of Elite Athlete above.
Did you miss part one and two? Learn how aspiring Olympians can fund their early careers hereand how they tried to make money at the peak of their careers by watching videos here.
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