As the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo draw to a close, a growing number of athletes are transitioning from the world of competitive sports to new careers in finance, with Goldman Sachs emerging as a surprising destination. The bank is actively recruiting former Olympians, valuing the skills honed through elite athletic training over traditional financial experience.
Ryan Held, a two-time Olympic gold medalist in swimming, is one such example. Now a risk analyst at Goldman Sachs, Held acknowledged the unconventional path. “I didn’t necessarily have the financial background history that other candidates would have, so [Goldman Sachs’] patience with me was incredible,” he told Fortune. “They just wanted to see me succeed.” Held won gold in the 4x100m freestyle relay at both the 2016 Rio Olympics and the 2024 Paris Olympics before retiring and joining the bank.
The appeal for Goldman Sachs lies in the transferable skills developed through high-performance athletics. Jacqueline Arthur, head of human capital management at the firm, explained that Olympians and competitive athletes possess “incredibly valuable attributes like resilience, leadership, ability to manage time and performing at the highest level under pressure.” These qualities, she says, are “valuable in any career, but especially here.”
Rob Williams, a managing director in global banking and markets at Goldman Sachs, exemplifies the firm’s long-standing interest in recruiting Olympic talent. Williams transitioned to the bank after winning a silver medal in rowing at the 2012 London Summer Olympics. He described his decision to retire from rowing on a high note and pursue a career with greater longevity. “Rowing is not a well paid sport,” Williams stated to Fortune. “It can be okay for a few years, but you’re not going to be retiring off the back of being good at rowing.”
Williams, like Held, initially had a background in the sciences, not finance. He joined Goldman Sachs as an associate in foreign exchange forward trading in 2012 and found the function environment stimulating, comparable to the intensity of competitive rowing. He emphasized the importance of finding a role with “defined parameter success,” mirroring the clear objectives of athletic competition.
Goldman Sachs faces a highly competitive hiring landscape. In 2025, the bank received over 1 million applications for experienced positions and more than 360,000 applications for roughly 2,600 summer internships, with less than 1% of internship applicants receiving offers. The firm is actively seeking candidates who can stand out, and a background in elite athletics is proving to be a significant differentiator.
Arthur highlighted that Goldman Sachs isn’t necessarily looking for financial expertise in these recruits, but rather “innate traits, like discipline, commitment to excellence, meticulous preparation, strategic thinking, focusing on continuous improvement, and being open to coaching.” Held added that his years of swimming instilled key skills such as camaraderie, cultural connectedness, and effective time management.
Williams advises athletes transitioning to the corporate world to seek out roles that match their accustomed pace, and intensity. “Find something that lives at the pace that you were used to with your sport,” he said. “There’s lots of different types of corporate jobs, and if you finish doing sport at a high level, you’re probably used to that emotional volatility.”
As of February 22, 2026, Norway leads the medal count at the Winter Olympics with 41 total medals, including 18 gold, according to sportingnews.com. The United States follows with 32 medals (11 gold), and Italy is third with 30 medals (10 gold). Brazil secured its first-ever Winter Olympic gold medal during these games, marking a historic achievement for the nation.
