Below is an extract from Geoff Huegill's new book Be Your Best. It shines a light on the oft-overlooked struggle that elite athletes face when they go from being one of the best in the world in their chosen sport, to being just another person trying to make a living.
"I made the final in Athens on talent alone, and people were justifiably upset with me. I just didn't know where to go at the time. I carried a fear of failure that prevented me from giving my all. It had been too hard to refocus after Sydney, and I was only going through the motions in the lead-up to Athens.
Competitive swimming was still in my blood, but I was clearly losing motivation and was completely unable to make the transition to a productive life outside the pool.
Pretty soon after Athens everything seemed to fall apart, and that next year, 2005, would be a total waste of time.
If I was going to stay in swimming and move from Queensland, the only two coaches I wanted to work with were Grant Stoelwinder and Jim Fowlie, but neither of them was available . . . this added to my uncertainty, but I decided to come down to Sydney anyway.
In Sydney, there was a lot of partying going on and swimming wasn’t my main priority. I’d train for two or three weeks, often with the guys at Sydney University, then I’d have a month off. I couldn’t go on like that. The writing was on the wall and I finally called it quits . . . I was 26.
