For the sake of being concise, I’ll start my story in 2017. That year was the high. I'd gotten married, I’d won my second British Masters M35 title over 200m with a lifetime PB, and then gone on to the European Champs later that summer – where I’d picked up an individual bronze and a relay gold.

It felt like vindication; for all the training, for all the hard work. But, most importantly, it felt like a victory over my mental health – that I could accomplish something despite the all-consuming d…

Let me start by saying, not a single professional athlete on the planet is healthy. Is it healthy to put that much stress through your knee every time you jump onto a high jump bed? Or the amount of physical pain you endure training for an Olympic 10,000m? Or bending your arm into all sorts of wacky positions to ping a javelin 90m? None of this, in the long run will make you any healthier. It does however mean, that we, as athletes, are the fittest people on the planet, and this is a distinction…

“Will I ever run again?”

It was the first question I remember asking when I woke up from a week long coma.

My name is Emma. I’m the athletics programme manager at Loughborough University and used to be a half decent sprinter. I made it to a few British Championships finals, picked up some medals along the way, and competed for England and GB U23s back in the day.

Photo by Nigel Farrow

In July 2014 I was 29 and winding down from high level competition. I’d moved from Loughborough to Card…

📸 by: @Sakurasportsmedia

What is RED-S?

RED-S stands for ‘Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport’. RED-S is caused when an individual’s dietary energy intake is insufficient to support the energy expenditure required for everyday health and optimal function once the cost of exercise has been considered [1]. In simple terms, energy expenditure > energy intake to a point where physiological function is impaired in the body’s bid to save energy (metabolic rate, menstrual function, bone health, imm…

What’s up people, I begin this piece by sending peace to everyone reading this and introduce myself - my name is Daniel Oderinde and I am a former national and international medallist at the youth/junior level (AAA’s bronze medallist and FISEC International Catholic School Games 100m champion). As you can tell by my writing in the past tense, I have stopped pursuing a career in athletics, that was due to having suffered from an on-going chronic knee injury called patella femoral pain syndrome. W…

A guide for understanding Mental Health and Thriving in elite sport

The Olympic Games. A prestigious event in the sporting world that occurs every 4 years. It is logical to propose that every athlete in competitive sport dreams of one day participating.

Those who are Olympians hold themselves to extreme standards, but at what cost? Striving to compete among the best in the world can be considered a “double-edged sword”.

On one hand, athletes may receive recognition for all the hard work thr…

‘The Athlete Afterlife’ – how high performance environments allow a simplistic and successful transition to the world of work.

“Guidance for athletes to maximise potential in high performing environments”

It isn’t uncommon that athletes struggle to accept that sport doesn’t last forever. What feels like a lifetime of success is usually only 20 years on average^[13]. What happens after that? The fear of entering the real world and realising hours of pushing your body and mind to its…

Following a late call up to the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, where I was a spare and had to lose 12kg in 7 days to make weight, I returned home as part of Team GB and with a certificate saying I was an Olympian. A dream I had worked for since I was 6, having watched the 92 games in Barcelona.

As I'm sure we can all appreciate the time, effort, discipline etc that goes into what we love doing and being the best we can be. While also the honour of representing our country. 

One thing…