It wasn’t a choice for Karen Cogan to stop competing in gymnastics. When a knee injury ended her athletic career, she had to find a new way to engage with sports. She decided to pursue sports psychology and for many years now, has worked with the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Teams. She uses her own struggle transitioning out of athletics to inform the way she guides other athletes through the challenges of their sports careers.
Something Cogan learned when she started working with Olympic athletes was that there is perhaps more disappointment and grief than you might expect. While we often see the joy and ecstasy of the gold medal win in the spotlight, there are countless athletes who compete and never see a medal. Being a high level athlete means learning how to cope with defeat and find a way to stand back up and regain confidence even when times are tough.
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