A champion out of the pool? A discursive exploration of two Australian Olympic swimmers' transition from elite sport to retirement Suzanne Cosh a, b, * , Shona Crabb c , Phillip J. Tully d a Department of Psychiatry II, Ulm University, Günzburg, Germany b School of Psychology, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia c Discipline of Public Health, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia d Freemasons Foundation of Men's Health, Discipline of Medicine, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia article info Article history: Received 24 December 2014 Received in revised form 23 February 2015 Accepted 24 February 2015 Available online 5 March 2015 Keywords: Career transition Transition difficulties Elite athlete Mass media Discursive psychology Identity abstract Background: The transition out of elite sport can be distressing and many athletes experience a range of transition difficulties. However, the socio-cultural and discursive contexts which shape experiences remain largely unexplored in the transition literature. Objective: To explore retirement and transition difficulties in a cultural context through an analysis of Australian newsprint media. Design and methods: A discursive analysis of 121 media articles reporting on post-retirement experiences of two Australian swimmers 7 and 5 years (respectively) into retirement. Data were analysed for repeated representation of transition difficulties, specifically how the cause of difficulties was attributed. The identities that were ascribed to athletes and what these functioned to accomplish were also examined. Results: The identities of both individuals were repeatedly constructed in terms of an athlete identity, to the exclusion of other identities. The responsibility for transition difficulties was depicted as located solely within the individual and, thereby, the sport setting and the broader socio-cultural context were overlooked. Conclusions: In this cultural context (Australian news media), the repeated construction of limited identity positions for retired athletes and the construction of former athletes as the sole locus of tran- sition difficulties have implications for their psychological well-being. Despite this, the role of the sporting and cultural context is rendered invisible in these accounts and more broadly, and interventions remain targeted at the individual level. © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Athletes' retirement from elite-sport has received widespread research attention (Park, Lavallee, & Tod, 2013), especially given that the retirement from elite-sport can constitute a significant risk to athletes' psychological health and well-being (Lavallee & Robinson, 2007; Lotysz & Short, 2004; Wylleman & Lavallee, 2004). Upon retirement, athletes are vulnerable to experiencing depression, anxiety, identity crises, alcohol/substance abuse, decreased self-confidence and eating disorders (Stambulova, Alfermann, Statler, & Cote, 2009; Wylleman, Alfermann, & Lavallee, 2004). Post-retirement, athletes are also vulnerable to difficulties integrating into new professions (Dubois, Ledon, & Wylleman, 2014) and to anxiety due to a lack of career certainty (Lavallee & Robinson, 2007), which has been attributed to the prioritisation of sport over their educational achievement during their sporting careers (Cosh & Tully, 2014; McGillivray, Fearn, & McIntosh, 2005). Additionally, athletes' bodies can be integral to their identity, signifying their physical strength, fitness and ability to perform (Phoenix & Sparkes, 2006). Thus, retiring athletes can be vulnerable to experiencing decreased self-esteem and self-worth as their bodies change (Lavallee & Robinson, 2007; Schwenk, Gorenflo, Dopp, & Hipple, 2007; Stephan, Torregrosa, & Sanchez, 2007). Athletes are further at risk of depression associated with * Corresponding author. School of Psychology, The University of Adelaide, Ade- laide, Australia. E-mail addresses: suziecosh@gmail.com, suzanne.cosh@adelaide.edu.au (S. Cosh). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Psychology of Sport and Exercise journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/psychsport http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2015.02.006 1469-0292/© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Psychology of Sport and Exercise 19 (2015) 33e41