How Do You Know It’s Time to Walk Away from Your Sport? What if you’re not burnt out… just done?
- Ryan Gonsalves
- Jul 7
- 3 min read
Why does it still feel like you haven’t made it?
You’d think reaching the top would silence the doubt.
That once you hit the big stage, once you wear your country’s colours, once your name’s on the Olympic roster, the voice that says you’re not good enough would finally quiet down.
But if you’ve been there, or even just pushed to the edge of elite performance, you know it doesn’t always work like that.
Sometimes, being at the top just gives that voice a bigger audience.
And when the medals don’t come, when you’re 19th in the world… instead of first, when people ask how you went and you have to watch their face fall at the answer, it can leave you wondering whether any of it counted at all.
Freddie Woodward went to the Olympics. But he almost couldn’t admit it.
When Freddie joined me on the show, he told a story I’ve heard versions of before but rarely so honestly.
He talked about the moment someone would find out he was an Olympian. Their excitement. Their questions. Then that inevitable pause when he said he came 19th.
That hit hard.
Because the truth is, you can achieve something that millions dream about and still carry the weight of not feeling like you’ve done enough.
You can love your sport with everything you’ve got, and still know deep down that love doesn’t pay the bills.
How do you know when it’s time to walk away?
For Freddie, it wasn’t about burnout.
It wasn’t even about failure.
It was about coming face-to-face with the fact that even after reaching the Olympics and being the best in Britain, he couldn’t build and sustain a life around diving.
“If diving had been something I could build a career out of, maybe it would have been different. But I knew what it would cost to get to Tokyo. And I wasn’t willing to trade everything for it.”
Letting go wasn’t easy. But it was honest.
And for a lot of athletes I work with, that’s where the real transition begins. Not when you leave your sport physically but when you stop pretending that staying makes sense just because you once said it was your dream.
What can you do when the dream changes?
The hardest part of athlete career transition isn’t just choosing to walk away. It’s learning to live with the question that follows you for years after.
“Was that it?”
Here’s what I share with athletes navigating that space.
1. Stop measuring your worth by where you placed
You are not your ranking. You are not your time, your score, or your medal count. Your sport might have shaped you, but it doesn’t define your future. Let go of the scoreboard. Start looking at what you’ve built that no one can take away.
2. Let the financial reality inform your next move
Loving your sport doesn’t mean you owe it your livelihood. If it can’t support your life, it’s okay to build something that can. That doesn’t make you a sellout. It makes you someone who’s ready to lead themselves.
3. Start your second wind before the first one runs out
The best transitions happen when athletes stop waiting for a crash. When they start learning, exploring, networking, even while they’re still training. You don’t need a full plan. But you do need momentum.
What does enough look like now?
Maybe it’s not a podium.
Maybe it’s peace.
Maybe it’s knowing you gave everything to the sport you loved — and then chose to take that same discipline, that same courage, and build a life that finally fits.
Freddie didn’t quit diving. He chose himself.
That’s not failure.
That’s a win most people never find the guts to go after.
🎧 Listen to our full conversation with Freddie Woodward on the 2ndwind Podcast, where he shares what it really felt like to stand on the Olympic stage — and what it took to walk away.
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