Interview Questions to Ask Athletes
Questions for interviewing an athlete, whether for a school assignment, a club newsletter, a podcast or a local paper. They move from how the athlete started, through the shape of a training week and the hour before competition, to losses, recovery, life outside the sport, and what they would tell someone starting out.
The questions
Open any question for the note
How did you get started in your sport?
Why ask it
A safe opener that athletes have told before, which lets them settle. It also hands you names, places and dates you can return to later when you want something less rehearsed.
Who first told you that you were good at it?
Why ask it
Almost always a specific person: a parent, a PE teacher, a coach at a small club. The answer usually gets you a story that has not been told in a press conference.
What does a normal training week look like right now?
Why ask it
Ask about the current week rather than training in general and you get real hours, sessions and days off instead of a summary. It also fixes where they are in a season, which shapes everything else they say.
What part of training do you dislike but do anyway?
Why ask it
Cuts past the language of loving the grind. Most athletes will name something dull and specific, and it tends to be the most human moment in the interview.
What does the day before a competition look like?
Why ask it
Routines are concrete and easy to describe, and the small superstitions people mention here are usually the detail a reader remembers.
What is going through your head in the last few minutes before you start?
Why ask it
Better than asking how they handle pressure, which invites a stock answer about staying focused. Anchoring to a specific window forces an actual description.
Which result has been hardest to get over?
Why ask it
Athletes are usually willing to discuss a defeat they have processed. If they name one and then move on quickly, take the hint rather than pressing for detail.
How long does a bad result stay with you now compared with when you were younger?
Why ask it
The comparison invites reflection rather than a highlight reel, and it often produces the clearest account of how the athlete has changed.
What do you do differently now from five years ago?
Why ask it
Experienced athletes usually name something unglamorous: less volume, more sleep, fewer competitions. Younger athletes may not have the distance yet, so adjust the span to their career.
Which coach changed the way you think about the sport, and how?
Why ask it
Credits a real person and gets you a second interview subject. Vague praise for everyone who has helped them usually means the question needs a follow-up about one specific session or conversation.
What do people outside the sport get wrong about it?
Why ask it
Invites the athlete to correct the record, which most enjoy. It also gives you material that distinguishes your interview from every other one about the same event.
When results are going badly for a stretch, what do you change?
Why ask it
Reveals how much of their approach is planned rather than reactive. Answers about working harder are common; answers naming a specific change in training or support are more informative.
What has time out through injury or illness been like for you?
Why ask it
Ask openly rather than about a particular injury, and let the athlete choose the level of detail. If they decline, move on, and do not return to it later in the conversation.
How much thought goes into what you eat, and who helps with it?
Why ask it
Keep this factual and about their process. Questions that press on weight or body composition are intrusive and, with young athletes especially, cause real harm.
What does recovery look like during a heavy block of training?
Why ask it
Sleep, physiotherapy, and the boredom of doing nothing come up here. It is a part of elite sport that is rarely described and easy for a reader to grasp.
What does your life look like away from the sport?
Why ask it
Many athletes have a job, a course, or caring responsibilities alongside training, and few interviews ask. The answer often reframes everything else they have described.
How do you deal with people commenting on your performance online?
Why ask it
Answers range from complete avoidance to reading everything, and the honest ones are revealing. Be prepared for the topic to be genuinely painful and be ready to move on.
What do you want to be doing when you stop competing?
Why ask it
Ask this neutrally, since retirement is a loaded subject for anyone near the end of a career. Athletes with a plan usually speak about it readily, and those without one will change the subject.
What would you tell a young athlete who wants to do what you do?
Why ask it
The useful version of this includes what to avoid, not only what to aim for. Push gently for the specific piece of advice rather than encouragement to follow their dreams.
What would you change about how your sport is run?
Why ask it
A closing question that can produce your headline, so keep it until the end. Be aware that athletes with contracts or federation obligations may have to answer carefully, and do not push them into a quote that costs them.
Interviewing an athlete
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Before you sit down
- Know their recent results and get names, spellings and event names right. Getting one wrong ends the interview in practice, if not in fact.
- Learn the basics of the sport so you are not spending your time asking how scoring works.
- Check whether a press officer, agent or parent needs to be present, particularly with athletes under eighteen.
- Agree how long you have and what is on the record before you start recording.
- Have twice as many questions as you need, since a strong answer will send you somewhere unplanned.
Timing matters
Not immediately after a loss
Reflective questions get one-word answers in the minutes after a defeat. If that is your only window, ask about what happened rather than how they feel about it, and keep it short.
Off-season and pre-season are the best windows
Athletes have more time and more perspective away from competition weeks, and they are more willing to talk about training, injuries and what they are working on.
Mid-season, keep it about the current block
During a competitive stretch, questions anchored to this week are answered readily while career-spanning ones tend to get deflected.
Getting better answers
- Ask about a specific occasion rather than a general habit. "The last time that happened" beats "how do you usually".
- Follow a short answer with silence before asking something new. The second half of the answer is usually the part worth quoting.
- Ask for the detail: the time on the clock, the weather, what a teammate said. Detail is what makes a quote worth printing.
- Repeat back what you heard when the answer is technical. Athletes will correct you, and the correction is often clearer than the original.
- Save anything sensitive until you have built some rapport, and be willing to end the interview without it.
Lines to be careful with
Injuries and medical detail
Let the athlete decide how much to say and do not ask for a diagnosis or a return date they have not offered. If a press officer stops the line of questioning, accept it.
Weight, diet and appearance
Questions about weight or body shape are intrusive and can do real damage, especially to young athletes and in weight-category or judged sports. Keep nutrition questions on process.
Money, contracts and selection
These may be governed by agreements the athlete cannot discuss. Asking once is fair; pressing after a clear no puts them in a difficult position with their team.
Interviewing minors
Get consent from a parent or guardian, keep another adult present, and avoid questions about pressure from family or coaches unless the young athlete raises the subject.