I think that comes from sports injuries being framed as accidents more so than as the result of repetitive over exertion. That one’s Achilles getting injured and not ever truly recovering from it is just chance that got in the way of their goal rather than their body being pushed beyond what it can shoulder. With mental over exertion, the common view is that the brain can take on infinite load and that burnout is just an excuse for lacking sufficient Protestant work ethic. So former “gifted” kids don’t talk like that because they know people will perceive them as making excuses, or believe it themselves and engage in self-loathing.

That being said, a lot of that debatelord, fallacyman, brain mentality is a manifestation of former “gifted” kids trying to maintain that feeling of potential. They might’ve burned out their junior year of high school or dropped out of the good college a semester in, but if they can own someone online with logic facts and reason, they can convince themselves they’ve “still got it.”