{"id":460597,"date":"2021-01-28T06:08:35","date_gmt":"2021-01-28T13:08:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=460597"},"modified":"2021-01-28T06:08:35","modified_gmt":"2021-01-28T13:08:35","slug":"out-of-the-pool-markus-rogan-on-performance-psychology-and-finding-identity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/out-of-the-pool-markus-rogan-on-performance-psychology-and-finding-identity\/","title":{"rendered":"Out of the Pool: Markus Rogan on Performance Psychology and Finding Identity"},"content":{"rendered":"

Out of the Pool: Markus Rogan on Performance Psychology and Finding Identity<\/strong><\/p>\n

The life of a swimmer extends well beyond the pool. In a new occasional series, Out of the Pool, we talk to former swimmers who\u2019ve gone on to excel in their post-athletic careers.<\/em><\/p>\n

Markus Rogan<\/strong> was on the verge of this third Olympic Games when he felt safe declaring that he no longer enjoyed swimming<\/a>. It\u2019s a testament to the Austrian\u2019s journey<\/a> that he still had one more Olympics left in him after that.<\/p>\n

The silver medalist in the 100-meter and 200-meter backstroke at the 2004 Athens Games, Rogan had a complicated journey through the sport. The Stanford grad competed on the international stage for more than a decade, emigrating to the Washington D.C. area in high school from his native Austria. He credits swimming with opening the door for many of the aspects of his life he now enjoys at age 38.<\/p>\n

But they came at a price. And the emotional weight of that journey is what led Rogan to a post-athletic career as a psychologist.<\/p>\n

\u201cIgnoring symptoms makes you sick,\u201d Rogan\u2019s website reads<\/a>. \u201cFacing them makes you come alive.\u201d Specializing in \u201cexperiential performance psychology\u201d in Southern California, Rogan works with clients who are athletes and some who aren\u2019t. He works in clinical settings and as a sports psychologist, focusing on performance and the challenges athletes face<\/a>. As he says, \u201cMost of my patients are athletes, and most of my athletes are patients.\u201d<\/p>\n