How Do Talented Athletes Find Their Identity?

Athletes who are talented and of a high level often cement early, meaning they don't go through standard identity negotiation process. When your identity has been tied to this thing foro sense, your ten age years or before, all that does is just reaffirm that choice. And as you reach the lympic level, it becomes pretty much the only thing in your life. So there's no fallback. It's, if i fail, i am a failure, which is a lot to take.