Apollo Ohno, Sasha Cohen and Lolo Jones on Olympians and retirement
The Weight of Gold documentary
Michael Phelps (VO): No matter how your career goes, or how long it lasts, there's one inevitable end we all have in common: retirement. It's not really natural to retire when you're in your 20s or 30s, and when you've devoted your life to a pursuit of such a singular goal and then leave it all behind. There's a giant question, now what? And even bigger, who am I? And the truth is, there aren't tons of programs in place to help athletes handle the emotions of that transition.
Apollo Ohno: What is available to retired Olympic athletes post-career? I don't think there's any. If you're talking about third party resources, that I'm aware of, I don't think there's any. There's none that I've used. There's actually zero that I've used in 9 and a half years I've been retired. There's no pension, there's no bonus, there's no stock option, there's no job opportunity, there's no more coach, there's no more training environment, no more equipment, there's no more monthly stipend, there's no more prize money, arguably there’s no more sponsorship. Yeah, that's reality
Sasha Cohen: I'm really not aware of anything that exists for retired Olympians, but I really feel like the bulk of what the US Olympic committee does is to help fund hopefuls getting to their dream.
Lolo Jones: I will never regret competing for Team USA and this country, absolutely not. I’ve helped promote the Olympic sports for three Olympics. I’ve given my blood, sweat and tears. I’ve given my talent. And all I’m asking is that after it’s all said and done, someone can help me mentally get through this.
