OLYMPIC medalist Dame Kelly Holmes spoke about the importance of getting children interested in sport when she visited the Island in May.
The athlete, who won two gold medals in the 800m and 1500m events at the Olympic Games in Athens in 2004, visited the Isle of Man as a guest of SMP Partners.
During her time in the Island she held a training session for children in the Isle of Man Youth Team and visited young people at The Children's Centre.
She was also the guest of honour at a fundraising dinner held at the Mount Murray Hotel and Country Club.
Speaking to isleofman.com reporter Tessa Hawley, Kelly said it was important to get children interested in sport from an early age.
She said: "I actually think that's where you capture young people. It's vital that you bring sport, activity and fitness into their lives then so that they take all of the skills and abilities from what sport brings. It teaches confidence, teamwork, learning to work with people, fitness levels of course and having challenges - when you have to fight to get something - which is true of life.
"I suppose because I achieved quite highly from a young age and I've had a long journey which has been very successful I think I can pass on quite a lot to young people. I like to work with young people to get the best out of them."
Kelly also said there was also correlation between sport and business. She continued: "In life people need to set themselves an aspiration - a realistic target - ask questions, train and develop your skills and go for it.
"Sport and business have a lot of correlations – setting goals, targets, having a teamwork environment in terms of employees coming together to make a company the best it can be. It's the same as an individual athlete you've got all your physios and doctors, training partners and everyone else. There is a lot of correlation.
"It's having the ultimate belief that you can achieve what you are setting out to achieve. It's very easy to put yourself on an under par. Sometimes it is about taking risks and having the guts to change."
Kelly also spoke about her victory in Athens saying she still gets overwhelmed by her achievements. For more on this click here.
Update: Dame Kelly Holmes returned to the Isle of Man in September for the Commonwealth Youth Games in her role as President of the Commonwealth Games England.
This story is part of isleofman.com's Review of the Year 2011.
