Ollie Hynd MBE: 'Support is there, tap into that, make the most of it'

Ollie Hynd MBE is a six-time Paralympic medallist who swam at London in 2012 and Rio in 2016. After changes to his classification in 2018, he decided to retire from competitive sport in 2021. After trying many different career paths, including acting, coaching and media, he has talked about how athletes can prepare themselves for their next steps, the journey they might go through, and how support from a UK Sports Institute Performance Lifestyle Team guided him through the transition. Ollie is now training to become a financial adviser at the St. James’s Place Financial Adviser Academy.

“Swimming has been my life for as long as I can remember. Everything revolved around swimming; I was still quite young when it became my job. Thinking back to those times where I was at school, I don’t even know how I managed it now! Juggling training twice a day with my schoolwork alongside it. I think looking back on my career, I probably didn’t put enough emphasis and importance on life outside of swimming and outside of sport.

“I think from my experience and my journey, that’s something that I want to pass on to the younger athletes coming through. You’re going to put yourself in a much better position if you’re proactive.

“Every athlete’s journey in their career and out of sport in that transition, it looks different for everybody. I think there’s this perception that there’s this perfect script that every athlete follows. You know, they get to the end of the career and sail off into the sunset and it’s all nice. Nine times out of 10, that’s not what happens.

“Sometimes you’re in situations that you can’t control, so you can’t dictate how things go. In my case I went through reclassification, which ultimately led to me moving to a higher classification, which completely changed my competitive sphere. But to all intents and purposes, it was out of my control.

“At that time, a lot of different emotions were ruling my decisions. It’s a very strange time when you decide to step away from the sport. I remember feeling excited about what the possibility could be at that next step. Apprehensive, scared. You know, anxious, not having the answers. It’s definitely a rollercoaster of emotions. And you have good days, bad days, completely up and down.

“I spent a lot of time speaking to Emma [Groome, Futures and Senior Performance Lifestyle Coach at the UKSI] after I’d transitioned away from the programme. I was really lucky that I was signposted to the services of Emma and that transitional PL [Performance Lifestyle] support because I didn’t know it was there before I was told.

“Now, three years on from my retirement from sport, I finally found something that I feel really passionate about and I feel how I felt about swimming. But it’s taken me on ups, downs, trying different things, hating different things. I’ve needed that process and ultimately I’ve got to the final destination of where I want to get.

“Throughout my swimming career, I have been really fortunate to have really good relationships with all of the PLs that have been a part of the programme. A lot of the work that we did to begin with was, and it sounds strange, finding out about me again and about things that I enjoyed and things that were important to me, values that were really important to me.

“Another thing that’s not really spoken about that much with athlete transition is that loss of identity. I think that’s a really big one for athletes. The transitional period does look different for everybody, but I think that loss of identity is pretty consistent.

“I think that’s the great thing about the PL service: everyone’s different, and those services are tailored to the individual.

“I’m now in St James’s Place Academy, and now I’m now on my way to becoming a fully qualified financial advisor and going down that route. It’s just been really, really rewarding for me now, three years on from my swimming career to have found something that I’m really passionate about and can really see myself pursuing as a career long term.

“I think when you transition away from sport there’s a range of different emotions. I remember feeling almost self-conscious and not feeling confident in my abilities. I, that’s quite consistent with athletes transitioning out of sport. My confidence really took a beating in that period. I felt like I didn’t really have anything to give. And you know, those transferable skills from swimming that people talk about, to be honest, I didn’t really see them in myself to begin with.

“But it’s just having the confidence to understand that we’ve lived a very, very unusual existence as athletes, we’ve developed these very unique traits, strengths and things like that. I didn’t have the confidence to see that to begin with and see that those transferable skills that developed through my sport actually can transition into something else and be really, really advantageous and powerful.

“Also working with so many different people: thinking back to my swimming career, my team and the people that went into my performance was quite vast. It was my coach, my strength and conditioning coach, nutrition, psychology, PL. There was a lot of people that went into getting that performance and being able to kind of manage those relationships and take things from those people and put them into your performance. I think that’s something we take for granted as athletes. I’m glad that I’ve gone through that process now and I’ve got that confidence that I can see that I do have something to give and I do have transferable skills.

“One piece of advice I would give to athletes that are transitioning out of sport, and it applies to anyone but is probably a bit more applicable to those that have actually taken that step, just giving yourself grace and understanding that the process will take how long the process takes. And you don’t need to rush that. You don’t you don’t need to put yourself under too much pressure to have the answers straight away.

“And always remember that the support is there. Just tap into that, make the most of it. In a lot of our sessions Emma would be a sounding board for me. And that’s what I needed. I just needed to get ideas or how I’m feeling across and just get someone else’s perspective. It’s always useful to have somebody to talk to that you know is on your side and wants the best for you.”

Athletes are encouraged to check upcoming communication via their emails and social media channels. Speak to your in-sport Performance Lifestyle Practitioner or email PL.Futures@uksportsinstitute.co.uk for more information.

Former elite athletes can join the BEAA’s lifelong alumni community to connect with others at different stages of their career post-programme: alumni.britisheliteathletes.org/signup.