I think one reason may be because of the stereotypes of athletes that are passed around. For example.. athletes are dumb, athletes get into schools only because of their sport, teachers pass athletes because they are the star of the team, that person was only hired because of their athletic accomplishments, etc. These all lead people to believe that athletes are incapable of doing anything well outside of sports. I also think it is because society so consistently portrays people from 1 dimension and sticks people into groups. You can't be an Olympian, AND a scholar, AND an artist, AND a social activist... that's too many different groups. Choose 1 and we will label you as that. So when you excel in sports, people view that as the only thing you can do because of stereotypes they've heard/seen and also because that is the label they want to use for you. How can you be an athlete and a CEO? Impossible. But if you do somehow end up doing both those things, society will say you are only a CEO because your athletic accomplishments got you there, not because your research, work ethic, passion, talent, and energy in that field. I think the more athletes that portray themselves as more than their sport and excel in multiple areas, the more that people will see us as multidimensional and believe that we are capable of excelling outside of sport also.
