At 36, Jamaican athlete Veronica Campbell-Brown has not thrown in the towel.

However, the eight-time Olympic medallist is giving herself a bit more time before she decides to head back to the track.
VCB Towel

In February, Campbell-Brown gave birth to her daughter Avianna Brown and that is her focus right now.

“Right now you can see I am not competing professionally but I have not thrown in the towel. At the end of the year I will think about that and make a decision about whether or not I want to go to train for the Olympics in 2020,” Campbell-Brown said.

The athlete, who won two consecutive gold medals in the 200 metres at the 2004 and 2008 summer Olympics, said she was taking the rest of the year to focus on her daughter and family before making her decision to return to the competition.

She made these comments last Saturday at Pages Bookstore at Cave Shepherd on Broad Street where she held a signing for her book Inside Out: Activate The Power Within You.

Campbell-Brown, who is also an 11-time World Championship medallist, is in Barbados taking part in the inaugural Caribbean High Performance Summit and while here she decided to promote her book.

During the signing, she was moved to tears a few times as she recalled how good God was to her with many of those experiences chronicled in the book.

“It’s not like I was trying to cry, it’s just emotions when I think about how far God has brought me from. Those were tears of joy because God has been really good to me,” she said.

Campbell-Brown told NATIONSPORT the book didn’t only cater to athletes but to anyone who needed encouragement through life’s journey.

Book of inspiration

“It’s written on a three-fold basis. I talk about love, mental capacity and purpose. I really believe that inspiration is important for all of us so I decided that by writing this book I am able to share some insight into what can lead to success and how a person can be mentally tough and mentally strong. It can just encourage people when they are not feeling good,” she said.

“There may be some situations you want to get out of and there are some situations in there that can help you get over the rocky times in life and it’s overall just a good read whether you’re having issues or not. It’s just for everybody, not just for athletes.”

Her first book is entitled A Better You, Inspirations For Life’s Journey; however, she explained that this work was a major advancement in terms of its detail.

“I wanted to go more into detail and in-depth and it took me a couple years to write it but it was a passion of mine. I wanted to make sure that I really take my time with it and put something out there I knew people would enjoy and be inspired. I believe this would not be my last because I really like to put work out there for people to enjoy and to uplift their spirit,” she said.

She also said having a goal was very important in reaping success.

“You have to set goals and when you have goals and there are roadblocks, you keep moving towards it if you are very passionate about your goals. From a young age, I have always been passionate about athletics. Are you doing it just for doing it or do you want to maximise your full potential? If you are in it because you really love it, no matter what, you will keep going,” she said.