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The athlete’s journey: transitions through sport
The athlete’s journey: transitions through sport

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2 Case study 1: Lizzy Yarnold

In the next activity you will watch a video about Olympic skeleton champion Lizzy Yarnold’s [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] retirement from sport and her transition into life after sport.

Activity 2 Lizzy Yarnold: preparing early reaps positive rewards

Timing: Allow about 25 minutes

Watch the video below in which Lizzy Yarnold talks about her journey towards retirement and then answer the following questions.

  1. Why did Lizzy feel it was beneficial to be in education alongside training and competing?
  2. What did she do during her sabbatical?
  3. When did she start thinking about retirement?
  4. What advice did she offer to other elite athletes about retirement?
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Transcript: Video 2

[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]

End transcript: Video 2
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Discussion

  1. Lizzy felt that studying while still competing helped her to switch off from sport and develop a different part of her identity.
  2. Lizzy effectively had two periods of her life when she left sport – her sabbatical (break) inbetween her two Olympic titles, and her retirement. During her sabbatical she wanted to do something different and so she registered on an Open University course.
  3. In the video she said she started to think about retirement four years before she actually retired, which allowed her to work with her performance lifestyle advisor to plan for life after sport in advance. Lizzy chose to retire but had she been forced to retire early (e.g. due to injury) she would have been prepared.
  4. The advice that Lizzy gave other athletes was to talk to other athletes and to a performance lifestyle advisor (or another person who can provide support). These are both strategies that were suggested in Section 1.

Lizzy Yarnold’s journey into a life after sport appears to be a very positive one. Next you will look at another athlete who had a positive experience.