Losing joy, battling injuries: The struggles athletes face as retirement looms and why they move on

SINGAPORE: It was after a competition in July last year that 23-year-old Singapore wushu exponent Kimberly Ong began to contemplate retirement. 

Stricken by injuries throughout 2025, Ong recorded the first "Did Not Start" of a decade-long sporting career, after being in too much pain to compete.

"I did an event in the morning and I had a second event in the afternoon. But after the morning event, I just could not walk," Ong told CNA. "That one was quite hard on me. I think I just cried for the entire day."

While Ong initially planned to retire after the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games later this year, injuries changed all that. She retired in December last year.

"The injuries kind of caused burnout, and it just got to a point where I couldn't see any point in continuing because the injuries just kept coming," said Ong, who clinched bronze at the Asian Games in 2023.

Another athlete who recently retired is Singapore's first open water Olympian Chantal Liew. 

"It just felt like it was the correct time after the SEA Games to step away. I sort of saw it as a full circle moment because my debut on the national team was the 2015 SEA Games," she told CNA.

For distance runner Zubin Muncherji, losing joy factored into his decision to call it quits in December last year.

"When the fun is lost in the sport, the beauty is lost at the same time. And when you're not having fun, it's very hard to keep moving forward for sure," the 400m Singapore record holder said.

After struggling with countless injuries and the burnout of constant competition, particularly in the United States' NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) system, Muncherji recalled how the years leading up to his retirement were physically and mentally tough.

"I have tendonitis in