Aim: The purpose of this study was to explore and identify the reason behind early dropout among young talented athletes in correlation to existing knowledge on development of talent, as well as early dropout reasoning. Hopefully this study can serve as an inspiration for young athletes to make a second opinion, and a prevention of dropout. Method: Three former talented athletes participated in this study. The participants consist of 2 male former cyclists, one elite road cyclist and one world class track cyclist, and 1 female former elite swimmer, who throughout this report all shall remain anonymous. The participants were all individually interviewed, using the method of narrative interviewing. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed, first by making a biography and then a division of themes, with the inclusion of existing scientific work.
Conclusion: The analysis showed that all three participants had similar reasons for dropout. All three claim that a stressful day, where containing an optimal amount of practice along with either a full time job or education, would not correlate in terms of maintaining a proper level of skill and form. It also showed that they partially may not have been part of a successful environment for development of talent, this in terms of social communities, such as fellow students or the relationship to the coach, and a lack of cohesion between the athletic and non-athletic domain.