Yes, that's the norm for a lot of federations.
To be honest, I really would've preferred to continue my lifestyle, which allowed me to train in the mornings before work, then to go and teach and then train after work with a trusted coach and a team that supported me. When you're an athlete, it's not the workload that scares you; it's the people around you. When our resources are taken away, we become vulnerable to the people around us.
I don't think that worrying about the balance that athletes have to establish between work and sport is the priority. We're very good at balancing all that, if I can presume to speak for most athletes. We have a lot of resources to help us do that, and we improve year over year by acquiring experience. The real problem arises when that balance is taken away from us.
Teaching helped me maintain a balance between work and sport. I'm as passionate about teaching as I am about sport. So it was very hard for me to agree to be removed under duress, but I had no choice if I wanted to be carded. There are rules that prevent you from maintaining a balance if you want to be a full-time athlete.