This confronting Four Corners episode on the transition issues suffered by elite athletes after retirement, which include but are not limited to depression, worthlessness, injuries, reliance on prescription medicine and the battle to find work, is similar to the re-entry problems faced by many military persons returning to civilian life.
Sports psychologist Dr Clive Jones believes athletes need to prepare for retirement as soon as they begin their careers.
“When an athlete’s sense of value, significance and belonging are enmeshed to their sporting commitments and achievements, then their sense of self will be threatened incredibly upon retirement,” he told The New Daily.
“They are at risk of losing any sense of value and worth as a person and ultimately may start to feel they do not have a place in society anymore because who they are and what they offered us as a society is now finished, gone.”
