Scottish triathlete Beth Potter admits it has been “really difficult adjusting back to normal life” after the high of competing – and winning two bronze medals – at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
The 32-year-old made the podium in the individual women’s and mixed relay events.
Potter and fellow Team GB medallists Alex Yee and Georgia Taylor-Brown will receive a hero’s welcome when they compete in Sunday’s Supertri League event in London.
“That is one part of it that I have found really difficult, just adjusting back to normal life and just being really proud of what I have achieved as well,” she told BBC Scotland.
“People know the Olympics is such a big event, it has been quite difficult to get yourself back into it and almost be motivated for something because that was such a big goal and I think that is hard for other people to understand.”
Potter – who only switched to triathlon after competing in the 10,000m at the 2016 Rio Games – added: “I have found some of the questions people ask around it quite difficult to answer because I don’t want to come across as being rude or anything but when people ask ‘what is next?’ you have not even given us a chance to absorb what we have just done and how much it has taken to get there.
“Or, if they ask, ‘how do you really feel about your medal?’ – it is very difficult to come home with a medal from the Olympics and I think that is something that is not talked about.
“Most people leave the Games with nothing so I think being able to turn it on on that one day in every four years is not an easy thing to do and I think almost any medal should be celebrated and not like, ‘oh you didn’t get the gold, though’. That shouldn’t be seen as a failure, that should be seen as, ‘wow you got a medal, you got two medals’.”