Team GB survey raises concerns over athlete welfare after sport
More than half of Team GB athletes competing at the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games feel unprepared for life after sport, according to a new survey.
The British Elite Athletes Association asked publicly-funded sportspeople whether they agreed with the statement: “I feel prepared for life after retiring from competitive sport”.
Of the 61 respondents who are competing in Paris, only 28 – 46 per cent – agreed.
And the findings were even more negative across the survey as a whole, with just 53 of 132 – 40 per cent – saying they were ready for their post-competitive lives.
Hundreds of athletes are expected to walk away from their sports after the Paris Olympics and Paralympics if recent trends continue.
After the Tokyo Games, 278 summer athletes left their elite programmes – more than double the previous year. Following the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, a further 29 athletes called time.
“The singular focus of a Games and the tunnel vision sport can require means many are unready when the day arrives,” said Anna Watkins, CEO of the BEAA and a 2012 Olympic champion rower.
“It’s a huge challenge to overcome and it’s better that athletes – and the wider sporting world in Britain – are honest about that early on.
“Not only are there practical considerations around finding a new career, family life, or even somewhere to live, but there’s also an enormous shift in identity which can be hard to adjust to.
“From personal experience and from working with athletes daily, I want to encourage them to use the support available, to prepare as best they can – even in small ways – and to know it’s okay to find the transition to life after competition difficult.”
Swimmer Alice Dearing, who represented Team GB at the Tokyo Olympics, prepared for her retirement earlier this year by setting up her own charity and earning a master’s degree.
“If you haven’t had much outside perspective from your sport everything else can look daunting and scary,” said Dearing.
“I think we don’t talk about retirement a lot. It’s only when someone retires – and obviously I’m in that situation – that these conversations happen. I totally get that, because until it happens to you, you won’t really understand those feelings or that process. It’s hard.”