As Red from The Shawshank Redemption found out, life can be tough on the outside world. Olympic athletes have learned the same thing, as the NEW YORK TIMES reports that many of them have trouble adjusting to life outside of athletics. (Which is not to compare Olympians to convicted criminals - except maybe for Michael Phelps, or Marion Jones, or…) The story quotes noted sports psychologist Charlie Brown from FPS Performance as saying that the post-Olympics can be “a very fragile situation” for many elite athletes.

First off, a sports psychologist named Charlie Brown? Are you serious? I’m sure he can help you overcome any problem, as long as it doesn’t involve any of the following: Kicking a football before some shrill harpy pulls it away; Getting over the embarrassment of having your uniform, shoes & socks be knocked off by a comebacker up the middle; Or anything to do with rafting.

But I digress.

A 1982 survey of former Czech athletes showed that only 17 percent of them made the transition away from competitive sports and to “real life” without “significant emotional distress, including substance abuse and depression.” Although that number could be skewed by the fact that living in Czecheslovkia in 1982 would lead pretty much anyone to drink and be depressed.

I suppose it could be worse. Iit would appear that your chances of transitioning to a “normal life” if you are a former Chinese athlete who doesn’t win a gold medal is roughly zero percent, if this NPR story is any indictation. Now we know where they found the people to cover up all those corporate logos on the thermostats.