The comedown was about the loss of structure, degree of control, and clarity of goals.

It's analogous to what I hear from many people (including in my head) when you finally get out of school into the real world. It's also (based on what I've read and heard - I certainly have no first hand experience), analogous to something that many veterans feel going into the "real world".

The structure, clarity of purpose, knowing that everyone has more or less the same goals, knowing that you have non-trivial control to advance yourself towards your goal (winning gold, getting the grade, surviving the deployment, etc) which you know no-one will question.

We live our normal lives never quite sure if we're trying to do aim for the right things, and never quite sure if we're doing it the right way. We spend our whole adult lives coping (and perhaps thriving) with that uncertainty. Some of us fantasize about "more simple" lives, ultimately because the reduction in choices and things to consider mean we can (hopefully) go about our lives with greater clarity.

I don't know if "the real world" could be any other way. But perhaps on some level, we keep pushing people along this "bad career" (I don't think it's bad really... but that's a different discussion) because we all on some level want to believe that that idyllic, focused life can exist.

Calculus helps here too: https://nmmra.org/calculus-and-its-use-in-medicine/

[Fallacy of appeal to xkcd]

Sometimes, for some people. For some people, when they express their feelings, and the response they are met points out that others have it worse, they sometimes feel worse. It can sometimes feel like a dismissal, invalidating their feelings and experiences. I'm using qualifiers here, but I personally think most people want to feel validated.

It’s rare for people to only be facing a single issue, and the degree that any one issue is impacting them can very wildly. Still, dismissing similarities because of differences in intensity is counter productive. Grief counseling often involves encouraging people to go through their daily rituals, but all of those transitions can benefit from similar advice.

Many countries have a financial reward for medals. Russia gives you a new Mercedes, a six-figure USD sum and a lifetime pension for a gold (the Mercedes is for any medal, but the model gets worse.) (This was in 2014, I think they may have jiggered the reward since then). The US pays five-figures to any medal winner.

I'm not saying that it's a good business decision, but it's definitely some compensation depending on the country.

I also wonder how it works in smaller countries. If you are the gold medalist from your country do you get endorsements? Like, sure, the US team won X, but we have a lot of medals and how many people really care about that sport. As of today Iran has won one medal (a gold) and Kuwait has won one medal (a bronze). Are those people heroes back home?

*Edit: Thanks to the person who corrected my spelling

https://old.reddit.com/r/olympics/comments/orije1/check_out_...

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/29/tokyo-olympics-how-much-athl...

https://techpolicyinstitute.org/publications/miscellaneous/d...

Though the small sports can still struggle to even get enough resources to train full time, USOC should work on that.

I've noticed that even after a small stint at a prestigious aerospace company, I still get calls that stem from folks seeing that on my resume, I would imagine being a former Olympian would give you a similar leg up.

Even then most people realize they have zero chance of winning their event. Many would consider making the final to be a huge accomplishment.

"Olympian" is a good enough selling pitch for endorsement contracts.

No. That would be sympathy, where you feel bad because they feel bad. But empathy, where you understand their feelings would be good. Not just for Olympic athletes, but in general.