A campaign which highlights the value and skills of retiring athletes has been launched by Dame Kelly Holmes in London today (17 October).

More Than Medals has been established by the Olympic gold medallist’s eponymous Trust, and encourages athletes to use their “attitudes, behaviours and experiences” to work with young disadvantaged individuals after leaving their sport.

As well as providing athletes a chance to help those less fortunate, it gives them a purpose and opportunity to transfer their skills away from the sporting stage.

“Every year hundreds of world-class athletes reach a position where they need to consider their lives beyond sport. This will be even higher during an Olympic and Paralympic year,” said Holmes during the inaugural More Than Medals conference, hosted by Deloitte.

“I’m not convinced that enough awareness has been made in the past surrounding the ability of athletes to take their high-performing qualities into other arenas, when trained appropriately,” she added.

According to Holmes, failure to retrain these motivated and able members of society leads to a “wasted workforce”. The campaign highlights the economic, social and overall wellbeing benefits of retraining former athletes.

Liz Nicholl, chief executive of UK Sport, also sport at the conference.

She said: “The sacrifice each athlete has had to make to be selected on to UK Sport’s World Class programme and then to reach the level of performance needed to secure selection to compete at the Olympic or Paralympic Games is a major feat that can only be achieved with immense commitment, raw talent and great support.

“The lessons the athletes learn on their journey can be applied in other fields and industries and the full extent of their reach and impact has not yet been realised.”