Transcript

[MUSIC PLAYING]

[TEXT ON SCREEN: Lizzy Yarnold is Great Britain’s most successful ever Winter Olympian who won Skeleton gold at the 2014 and 2018 Winter Olympic Games. At the start of her career, she combined her training with studying for a degree at university.]

LIZZY YARNOLD:
I think being an athlete, it can be very all consuming. So one of the massive benefits of me doing my degree and taking on education whilst training is that in the evenings, when you've got nothing to do. It's great to watch films and relax. But it was also great to be able to disappear into my books, get some me time, chill out, and push myself in a different way that wasn't just the physical stuff-- lifting and sprinting fast. It was learning and educating myself. And that meant that when I came back into the Skeleton world the next day and the expectations were high, I was much more refreshed for that challenge. So I absolutely loved having the balance of education and sports.

[TEXT ON SCREEN: Following Sochi 2014, Lizzy won the European Championship in 2015, but in September of that year announced she was taking a sabbatical from the sport.]

Taking time out of Skeleton, although I loved not having to go to the gym every day and that focus, I knew that I did have to find something to do. So working with my performance lifestyle advisor, we thought, is there Open University courses? Are there other kind of fun courses I can do? So I did quite a long 10, 12 week Open University course on accounting-- something I knew nothing about. I didn't understand, and it was just a total challenge and kind of refreshing thing to do.
Even though it was keeping me busy from my break from Skeleton, now I can look back and be really proud of the fact that I did just try something different. I may not be the expert on it, but it's something else of me. And it's another string to my bow.

[TEXT ON SCREEN: Lizzy returned to Skeleton in 2016. At the PyeongChang Olympics in 2018, she became the first British athlete in history to retain their Olympic title at a Winter Games.]

I probably started thinking about retirement after my first Winter Olympics in Sochi, so actually four years before I retired. I found that talking to other people, no one would say, oh, I'm going to retire at this point. Or I'm thinking of this, because it was a taboo. If you said you were going to retire, then suddenly, you weren't worthy of being on the program and you'd be chucked off.
So I sort of made myself face up to the fact that there is a reality. I'm not going to be an athlete forever. And there is a whole world-- a great world-- out there that I want to be involved in.

[TEXT ON SCREEN: Since retiring, Lizzy has been elected onto the British Olympic Association’s Athletes’ Commission. She is also a frequent speaker at schools and conferences and is a #More2Me Champion.]

I can honestly say-- hand on heart-- that taking time off, doing education, having other things in my life are all major reasons why I have been so successful as an athlete.
My message to anyone within a world-class program thinking of the future is talk to some older athletes within your sport-- so friends you already have. That first conversation needs to be what's helped them? What are they planning doing in their future?
Get comfortable talking about retirement and the next steps, then go to your performance lifestyle advisor so they'll give you much more structured help. Start thinking about the life after sport. It’s a wonderful place, and it's a reality for all of us. And embrace-- embrace it.

[TEXT ON SCREEN: #More2Me. For more information head to: www.eis2win.co.uk/expertise/performance-lifestyle]