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She won a medal which puts her at the top 1% but most athletes who go to Olympics or international championships don't win any medals but nevertheless have to through the same training and invest the same commitment. If she can't make it, it makes you wonder what happens to the rest who also saw their golden years pass by but without any medals or achievements to show off.

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Well, if you worked hard, yet never won an Olympic medal, settling for a "boring" job might actually be easier.

It just seems like if you can push yourself mentally and physically to be a world champion, then a mediocre office job is exponentially easier.

Idk, I don't think these things are so linear.

I'm not sure what exactly is a "mediocre office job", but normal jobs require a different set of skills and priorities. Athletics benefit from a very singular focus, it's clear what you need to do and largely how to do it. If you're not good enough, it's generally made very clear pretty fast. There's often a huge network around you and lots of emotional reinforcement.

Normal living and normal jobs are not so. The big difference being that your priorities are scattered and there's no clear item to focus on. Very easy to miss things and make a mistake. Jobs are full off odd negotiations and office politics and proving something is hard. It's not very clear where you are.

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