Athletes—both performance types and aesthetic display types—are subject to body-related concerns such as “making weight,” beating a performance goal, or looking attractive in a skimpy uniform—and so they are body dissatisfaction (e. g. Galli et al., 2017; Papathomas & Lavallee, 2010; Petrie et al., 2014). Plus, they are often subject to public shaming by their coaches and fellow teammates when they fail in these areas. Body shaming is especially prevalent in the aesthetic display sports with very negative effects on body image. A study of 646 athletes who received critical comments about their weight or body shape were much more vulnerable to anxiety, lowered self-esteem, and disordered eating behaviors. Female athletes are especially sensitive to the opinions their peers (Scott, Haycraft, & Plateu, 2022).
Body-related issues continue on after athletes retire from their respective sports. To change from an athletic lifestyle means losing a large portion of one’s somatic identity. This leaves a gaping hole in one’s existence which needs to be resolved. Retirement from sport affects well-being and mood, but much depends on the body image flexibility of the individual athletes; those with more flexibility fare better than those who are more strongly identified with their sport (Papathomas, Petrie, & Plateau, 2018; Shander & Petrie, 2021).
A recent qualitative study investigated the psychological issues of 31 retired elite athletes, including 23 former Olympians, as to how they struggled to find new meanings in a new non-athletic identity. Four major themes were found (Papathomas et al., 2025).
- A legacy of body-conscious culture
Athletes live in a sub-culture that strives to achieve and then hold some state of bodily perfection. As they no longer live in the structure that reinforces that goal, they find their bodies changing in the opposite direction, usually with the addition of weight. Many still compare their bodies to either what they once were or against current athletes in their former sport.
- Trying to become “normal”
These former Olympians lived in the rarefied atmosphere of the very elite of athletics and now they must adapt to everyday life. Another issue related to a structured life is the loss of the support of their former sports organization. One problem is moving from prescribed exercise and diet plans to complete independence. It leaves many in a disoriented, free-fall state of mind.
- Loss of the athletic body-self
To be a top athlete means having lived and worked for years with a profound psychological investment in the physical body. Retiring from the athletic life leaves an emptiness in the self from loss… loss of achievement, loss of friends, loss of prestige, loss of financial opportunities, loss of previously high performance abilities, and this all adds up to a loss of the sense of self.
- Finding a new identity
The loss of identity and other social supports challenge athletes to psychologically rebuild themselves. Coping strategies include accepting the inevitability of physical changes, setting up new exercise and eating plans, and adopting a more mindful, self-compassionate attitude. And, lastly, learning to manage body dissatisfaction concerns with the passing of the athletic body and its powers.
Closing Thoughts
The challenges facing elite athletes after they leave their sports is a serious issue and more support should be given them. These would include helping them find new meanings in exercise and diet, therapy to help them adjust especially with their weight changes, and developing specialized body image rehabilitation interventions.
Paul Shane, Ph.D., LMT
Director, Academic Content
References
Galli, N., Petrie, T., & Chatterton, J. (2017). Team weigh-ins and self-weighing: Relations to body-related perceptions and disordered eating in collegiate male athletes. Psychology of Sport and Exercise 29, p. 51–55.
Petrie, T., Galli, N., Greenleaf, C., Reel, J., & Carter, J. (2014). Psychosocial correlates of bulimic symptomatology among male athletes. Psychology of Sport and Exercise 15 (6), p. 680–687.
Scott, C., Haycraft, E., & Plateau, C. (2022). The impact of critical comments from teammates on athletes’ eating and exercise psychopathology. Body Image 43, p. 170-179.
Shander, K. & Petrie, T. (2021). Transitioning from sport: Life satisfaction, depressive symptomatology, and body satisfaction among retired female collegiate athletes. Psychology of Sport and Exercise 57, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2021.102045.
Papathomas, A. & Lavallee, D. (2010). Athlete experiences of disordered eating in sport. Qualitative Research in Sport and Exercise 2(3), p. 354–370.
Papathomas, A., Petrie, T., Moesch, K., & Newman, H. (2025). Body image experiences in retired Olympians: Losing the embodied self. Psychology of Sport & Exercise 77, 1102792, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2024.102792.
Papathomas, A., Petrie, T., & Plateau, C. (2018). Changes in body image perceptions upon leaving elite sport: The retired female athlete paradox. Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology 7(1), p. 30–45.