Five-time Olympian and Tokyo 2020 gold medallist Felix Denayer retired from international hockey after Paris 2024. One year on, he reflects on the benefits of his dual career and the lessons he is taking into the next chapter of his life.
Felix Denayer competed for Belgium at five Olympic Games from Beijing 2008 to Paris 2024, winning a silver medal at Rio 2016 and captaining his country to gold at Tokyo 2020.
Alongside his sporting career, Felix studied economics, completed a postgraduate degree and worked at Deloitte Belgium before setting up his own business. He also took part in the IMD Innovation in Action programme in December 2024, further developing his entrepreneurial skills.
Now, one year on from Paris 2024, we spoke to Felix about his retirement, the benefits of a dual career, and his desire to make a difference.
Paris 2024 was quite special because I was able to reflect on my whole journey.
Representing your country is obviously a fantastic honour, especially if you can do it at five different Games. There’s also a certain responsibility to it.
We always said: “leave the shirt in a better place,” and I believe we added value to the Belgium hockey shirt. After Paris, I was ready to hand it over to the next generation.
It was also quite emotional to be able to play in front of my daughter. That was an objective I set for myself, and it was amazing to see how proud she was.
Dual career benefits
From the start, I always believed it was important to have a dual career, so I studied economics, did a postgraduate and worked for Deloitte Belgium – later becoming an ambassador and a member of Team Deloitte at Paris 2024.
I also used my experience and skills to start my own hockey equipment company in 2020, and will be taking up a new chief of staff role for a Belgian software company this August.
I believe that better people make better athletes – it’s about the mindset. Developing yourself as a person off the field will help you to perform better on the field, and the other way around.
For me, it was also important to prepare for my next chapter in life. You are an Olympian for life, but there is also another life after sport.
Life lessons in sport
Sport is a fantastic form of education. I learned lessons playing hockey that I now use on a daily basis, and there are a lot of transferable skills you can bring to life in general.
There are also many parallels between the sporting world and the business world. Becoming resilient, dealing with the ups and downs. Teamwork is another really important one.
Also, having drive and purpose. It’s not easy to achieve a dream like competing in the Olympic Games, and you need a certain passion to chase those small percentages every day.
Making an impact
Having played international hockey since 2007, retiring after Paris left me at a crossroads, but I’ve enjoyed working out what the next chapter will bring.
As athletes, we have a very clear direction – the tournaments, the titles, the medals.
But what was fantastic with our team was that our coaches always gave us different objectives with multiple layers.
It was not only the winning that was important, but also the impact. If, through all the victories, you can't have a positive impact, you have to question yourself. What are they really worth?
That's something I want to dive into now: to see if I can use all the experience I’ve gained as an athlete to make a positive impact.
