Je­lani Beck­les

"If I can in­spire one per­son to change their life for­ev­er I can die hap­py."

This was just one of the in­spi­ra­tional mes­sages that shot put cham­pi­on Va­lerie Adams told young track and field ath­letes at a Talk Shop at the VIP Lounge, Hase­ly Craw­ford Sta­di­um, on Wednes­day.

Adams, who is from New Zealand, is cur­rent­ly in T&T train­ing with her friend Cleopa­tra Borel. Adams and Borel have been friends since the 2002 Com­mon­wealth Games. Adams took the time to pass on some ad­vice and told the young ath­letes and coach­es how she got in­volved in track and field. Al­so in at­ten­dance at the Talk Shop were T&T Olympians Je­hue Gor­don and An­drew Lewis.

Adams said that she turned a sad time in her life to some­thing pos­i­tive fol­low­ing the death of her moth­er due to can­cer in 2000. "In 2000 I was 15, and my mom was quite ill. I was watch­ing the open­ing cer­e­mo­ny of the 2000 Olympic Games in Syd­ney and I was say­ing that one day I want to be there. It would be amaz­ing if one day I could walk with the flag at the Olympics." Adams said from that point it was her dream to com­pete at the Olympic Games. Short­ly af­ter Adams' moth­er passed away and she used track and field as a way of deal­ing with her emo­tions.

"I took track and field as a way to get rid of my sad­ness and anger. In the back of my mind I said I just want­ed to make her proud."

Adams spoke about an­oth­er ex­pe­ri­ence when her step­fa­ther told her to leave the house, but she nev­er gave up on her dream and kept fight­ing. "Those were sit­u­a­tions that could have made me or break me."

The shot put cham­pi­on told the ath­letes to hold on to one per­son who can in­spire them but in­formed them that you must work hard to be suc­cess­ful.

Adams, who is the two-time de­fend­ing Olympic cham­pi­on, qual­i­fied for her first Olympics at the 2004 Athens Games. "Get­ting to my first Olympics that was every­thing, this is what we dream for. This is the pin­na­cle of our sport. That is the high­est you can go."

The shot put ath­lete said you must re­main fo­cused at the Olympics, be­cause an ath­lete can get dis­tract­ed at such a grand event.

Adams al­so spoke about the sub­ject of drugs, di­et and nu­tri­tion and men­tal prepa­ra­tion as im­por­tant tools which can break or make an ath­lete.