With the fall semester starting last week at UNC, former world-class figure skater Rachael Flatt began pursuing her Ph.D. in clinical psychology on the Chapel Hill campus.

Flatt, who calls her seventh place finish at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver the highlight of her athletic career, retired from figure skating in 2015 after suffering various injuries and struggling to balance sports and her studies at Stanford.

Now, she wants to use her studies to help ease the transition many athletes struggle with after leaving sports behind.

“One of the goals that I have is to eventually provide resources to athletes who are making that transition out of sports, because that is such a difficult time,” says Flatt. “It doesn’t have to be an elite level, either. It could be as simple as having an injury that unfortunately curtails your career.”

Flatt will be working with fellow former figure skater and professor of Eating Disorders Dr. Cynthia Bulik to develop digital tools that aim to treat and manage meant health issues, specifically eating disorders, which can often be a serious problem in figure skating.

“Unfortunately, a lot of athletes struggle with mental health issues,” says Flatt. “Especially in a sport like skating when it is very aesthetically based, there are a lot of eating disorders, a lot of body image issues, and I saw a huge need there.”

Flatt’s educational drive comes from a mentality of always keeping school first and sports second, something she says came from her upbringing.

“My parents and I had this saying: ‘In the phrase ‘student-athlete’, student comes first for a reason,’” says Flatt. “So, academics were always a priority. As much as I loved skating and I loved sports, those were always coming as a second to my academics.”

Photo via Leah Adams

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