Dr. Jessica Bartley

I mean, the reality is you want to do it.

It's something you're driven to do.

A lot of athletes have been engaged in their sport since they were little or they've got particular goals.

And so it's always this balance.

I'm often thinking of it as like a risk analysis, like.

I mean, the reality is you are giving up a lot for sport at this level, which I think is really important to understand as well.

I mean, there's always a balance, but I see a lot of athletes who aren't themselves if they're not competing.

I've spent a lot of times with athletes who are injured trying to get back.

And so there's always that balance where you're looking at the risk and the reward.

But again, I think a lot of times you are kind of pushing yourself towards something to make you happy.

Yeah.

to feel fulfilled, to really accomplish something.

I mean, there's so many reasons we do what we do.

And again, I think there can be a real risk to not competing because of that.

Well, I would say what's different about the Olympic and Paralympic population is around 60 percent of our athletes live below the poverty line.

And so you're trying to figure out how to make ends meet, how to keep doing what you love.

And it may mean that you have to move halfway across the country to train or you may have to do something different.

A lot of our athletes will have multiple jobs.

And so again, like, I feel like there's such a wide array of things, but I find that the way I think about it is, what are your values?

What's your why?