The preparation of high-level athletes depends on many conditions, among which motivation is of pivotal importance. The need to manage the motives of an athlete arises at all stages of the formation of a sports career. A high level of motivation for sports is considered one of the main and necessary factors contributing to the self-realization of an athlete's personality. As an additional link combining the motivation of athletes and self-realization strategies, the aspect of resilience was taken. The phenomenon of resilience reflects the three most significant life attitudes: willingness to take risks, confidence in the possibility of controlling its events, involvement in life, which are important in sports activities, since they contribute to the development of high performance, purposefulness and stress resistance.

The purpose of the study: to study the features of motivation and self-realization of professional athletes, depending on gender and the level of their sports qualifications.

The study involved 60 professional athletes: 25 MS/MSMC, 19 CMS and 16 athletes without sports qualifications.

Psychodiagnostic measurements were carried out using four diagnostic techniques: V.I.Tropnikov's method of studying the motives of sports activity; E.A. Kalinin's questionnaire "Motives of Sports Activity" (MSD); S.Maddi's resilience test, adaptation by D.A. Leontiev and E.I. Rasskazova; S.I. Kudinov's multidimensional questionnaire of self-realization of personality.

The results of our research have shown that in the process of professional development, self-realization of sports potential and achievement of high levels of sports qualifications, the components of self-realization and internal and external motives are formed and developed. There is a similarity of hierarchies in the development of motives in men and women, differences in the development of components of self-realization are revealed.