MONTEGO BAY, St James — Olympic Games and World Championships medallist Sashalee Forbes has encouraged young athletes not to restrict themselves with limitations, but to strive to do their best.

The 21-year-old Forbes, who is also the World University Games and NACAC 100m champion, was the motivational speaker at Thursday’s media launch of the 40th Milo Western Relays, at Holy Trinity Church hall in Montego Bay. She told the students in attendance, “Don’t think limits; you are your own limits. Just go out and convince yourself. Your body knows all your challenges, so convince your mind that you can do it.”

The G C Foster sports college and former Holmwood Technical student admitted that training for her events was never always easy, and that she has in the past attempted to escape training.

“It’s not an easy road, to be truthful,” she said. “Training can be hard. I know you all hate training at times when the routines become hard, the 300m and 600m, but we have to go on. It’s difficult, but you must press on, as at the end of the day, as my high school coach told me, ‘it’s not where you are coming from its where you are going’.”

She encouraged the students to focus on their future. “Thinking about the future should be your focus. Parents will push you and coaches will curse you but they are only doing this for you, and it’s a good thing.

“Yes, I used to hide from training, but I still had to do what I have to do. I used classes as excuses, but still have to train and complete the sessions,” she said.

Her path to winning a silver medal in the Rio Olympics and a bronze in the London World Championships last year was not smooth, she admitted. “There have been ups and downs, but I had to work hard,” she said. “My first dream was to be an Olympian and my cousin (fellow Jamaican national representative) Simone Facey was my motivation and I decided to work hard for my goals.”