Sometimes these people tire of being constantly intellectually stimulated, or they take a different view on life than the purist view of the pursuit of long ter

Sometimes these people tire of being constantly intellectually stimulated, or they take a different view on life than the purist view of the pursuit of long term development of humanity through research. Myself, while I was not an Olympian in Math or Physics (the US fields some very competitive teams full of people who had better resources than me), I consider myself accomplished for what I had & the environment I grew in. I ultimately abandoned academia, in part because of the uncertainty, difficult work, and because my caring for friends won out - attempting to become wealthy enough to support friends in their endeavors, and giving them the resources I never had mattered more to me. I am perfectly happy being a lead developer, mentoring people to success & building products that help people's lives. I have no regrets. It should also be mentioned that being someone who is supremely accomplished in competitions does not mean that the person is the smartest - there may be others smarter than him/her, and just did not have the fortune of growing up in an environment that could best foster that intelligence. Many of the smartest realize this, and don't hang their hats on any particular competition achievement.