hello one and all my name is Ronald
Forbes
I am a three-time Olympian in the sport
of track and field
representing the beautiful Cayman
Islands and thank you and making what
seemed to be the impossible possible is
something I’ve done my entire life you
all have done it as well whether you
choose to believe that or not
see at some point in your life some
place some time something had to seem
impossible and until you decided to go
at it and challenge what seemed to be
the impossible it always remained
impossible see we’re a combination of
what we see and what we think then how
we act upon those thoughts say for
instance I wanted you to simply jump
over a pothole that was in the middle of
the street to get to the next side many
of us would simply just hop right over
it it’s not a really impossible task to
do but if I wanted you to say cross the
gap between two buildings and I wanted
you to do it walking over a tight wire
many of us would never dare take the
first step why I acts for the simple
fact of failing and falling see this
task became a little bit more impossible
when we started to act upon what we
thought based on what we saw and
sometimes in combating the impossible we
have to learn to bridge the mental gap
of what the impossible is and what the
possible is but in the process of
building that mental bridge we as humans
tend to learn to build walls first walls
in terms of stuff that hold us back
simply out of nowhere and it stops us
from achieving anything great and these
walls sometimes are comprised of bricks
bricks in terms of the
years doubts opinions and they’re often
cemented together by excuses and until
we stop building these walls that simply
hold us back from doing such great
things we often end up living a life
that is far less greater than we were
ever destined to live I guess that’s the
story of my life if you to tell this
young little boy that 20-something odd
years ago that he would one day become
an Olympian he would first look at you
like you were absolutely crazy then he
would pretty much just run away see my
mind frame back then is completely
different than it is now I was a person
that allowed other people’s fears their
doubts their opinions to somehow factor
in into my daily life and I started to
realize that by me having that
incorporated into my daily life I never
really challenged much and with me not
challenging much nothing really got
accomplished but that sort of all
changed one day during a PE class when
my PE teacher mr. Geary took up a discus
and he threw it onto the field and he
dared someone anyone in the class to
surpass where he threw his and of course
you’re 12 years old so everyone thought
that that was impossible he’s a grown
man but for some reason that day I
didn’t see it as impossible so I took up
a discus and I threw mines onto the
field and not only did it surpass where
he threw his it surpassed where I
thought thought I was gonna throw my’s
as well now after being told that I had
to show up at the next day’s evening
practice which I was clearly against
because I didn’t like running I didn’t
like jumping I didn’t like track and
field I didn’t like the sport period
however I decided to step out and to
challenge that as well right there was
where my track and field career got ass
kick start now after being a discus and
shot foot thrower for a while yo yes
those were my first events I slowly
start to gravitate towards the one event
that many people shy away from that
event is the event of the herd
why do many people shy away from the
hurdles simply for the fact once again
of failing and falling you see if I had
a dollar for every single time that
someone’s told me their story of well
Ron one time I tried the hurdles and I
hit the hurdle I fell so I never did it
again
I would be a rich individual she’s the
one event that didn’t allow me a comfort
zone it challenged who I was on the
track in the challenge who I was off of
the track now going into high school
instead of doing the 100 hurdles because
I got a little bit older I had to do the
400 hurdles and when I got into high
school I started to envision track and
feel as this whole other bigger and
greater entity not just simply just
running I started to see the
possibilities in it I started to see one
of the possibilities of track and field
as a way for me to get from where I was
to where I wanted to go and it’s a
bridge and in that journey I wanted to
go to school I wanted to one day somehow
and vish myself being an Olympian but in
order to make any of those things
possible I had to get better my
performances simply were not good enough
therefore had to train harder and that’s
exactly what I set out to do I set out
on a mission in order to achieve those
two things going to school and trying to
be an Olympian so I got up every single
morning at 4:45 catch the bus from our
side all the way to the airport
malfunction Junction and from there I
would job from that malfunction junction
with a backpack on my back in a duffel
bag across my shoulders all the way to
Truman Barden Sports Complex getting
here around maybe 6:30 I would train
from 6:30 until quarter to 9:00 dinner
was off to school all day and after
school was finished from
o’clock until 5:30 it was back to
training again in a nutshell for me this
was my high school experience needless
to say was not easy and maintaining that
but during that time a transition took
place I got better
I got faster I got stronger and one of
those seem like a seemingly impossible
task that I set out to do became
possible that was I attained a
scholarship to go off to college right
out of high school and man was I excited
but right then life didn’t throw me a
bridge it threw me a wall in 2002 I’d
applied for my student visa and I was
ultimately denied I was sent back home
and told that it would be an entire year
before I could reapply ultimately losing
that scholarship offer so for three
weeks
I quit track and field I decided it was
too much work too much risk for too
little reward but I was encouraged after
a while to come back to try to cross
that bridge from where I was to where I
wanted to go one last time so I did but
high school was over now I was into the
real world I had to find work so after
scouring about for a bit I eventually
landed my first job ever as an adult at
Al Thompson’s appliance Center as
appliance delivery personnel and they
were the plot there at the Appliance
Center I continued to work I continued
to study I continued to strive even
harder and after year or so of working
there in competing during that time I
got better and I regained that
scholarship offer and in the end of 2003
I reapplied for that student visa and
this time I was approved and in January
of 2004 I was off to bake own college
in Muskogee Oklahoma now judging by the
looks in your faces
some were wondering well where is that
that is the same question I asked myself
it’s pretty much in the middle of
nowhere
it was not the best of schools it was
not my first choice however I had
accomplished something that I thought
was impossible which was to get into
school and there at Bay cone with it not
being my first choice it was simply an
ace that I had to play like a king I
continued to work I continued to study I
continued to compete and just after my
first semester at attract me in Mexico
life threw me one of the biggest bridges
in its most simplest forms that today
I’ve ever received in my entire life in
a simple form of a business card that
was given to me one morning at the
airport by the then head coach of
Florida International University I
simply took the card stuck into my
wallet thought nothing of it when I
returned back to back home for my second
semester or the start of my second
semester I learned that the head coach
had left so was 75% of the team had gone
with him once again I faced the scenario
of being on my own completely alone was
there with no family no friends in two
weeks after Hurricane Ivan but I
continued to stay hopeful I continued to
Train sometimes even in my own in the
snow in the heat in the rain and
ultimately thinking one day that this
was not how I envisioned four years of
college to go this was this wasn’t a
plan this is this was not how I
envisioned list I decided to step out of
faith and after digging up in my wallet
I found that card and on my way to class
one morning I decided to send an email
to the address on that card and 20
minutes later I had a reply he’d
remembered who I was and what time I had
performed
and just so happens right then he was
looking for a 400 meter hurdle and there
I was and after conversing awhile at the
very last email that we ever sent was
some words that never forget with your
times I could offer you a full
scholarship to Florida International
University a Division one program
needless to say that I accepted and once
the paperwork was done I was out gone
and in January 2005
I arrived at Florida International
University where everything completely
changed you see for a time being this
coach had the bright idea that I was a
perfect fit for an alternate leg on the
shuttle hurdle relay going to Penn
Relays that year I’ve never done this
event in my entire life
so he said hey Ron will show up the two
evening practices and we see how it
works so I did I showed up to the to
evening practices not two weeks just two
practices and at the we upcoming weekend
he had the other bright idea to throw me
into my first race nervous was not the
word I stared down at ten hurdles
thinking that this was not going to end
good and this was completely impossible
but the gun went off and I survived and
just two weeks later he had the other
bright idea again to throw me into my
second race but something changed in
between week one and week two I didn’t
look at the event as being impossible
anymore because I’d done it the first
time so when I lined up I knew I could
get it done he might not been the
prettiest but I know I could get it done
and this time not only did I survive I
became the fastest hurdler in the school
from there it only got better I
continued to get faster I continued to
work harder I continued to train even
harder every single day I made a couple
of national teams broke
couple of national records even took
down a conference title here and there
but for some reason some things still
existed deep inside of me saying that I
know I’m better than what I am at this
present moment but change was slow to
come but then in 2008 with the change of
mine came a big change in performance I
stopped looking at life and the event as
one of impossibilities and barriers and
stuff that I couldn’t do and stop
concentrating and compiling those in a
pile and start looking at the things
that I could do and really honing in and
focusing on all of those possibilities
and in 2008 it changed my performance
drastically simply with the change of
mine in just five weeks
of my 2008 track and field collegiate
track and field season getting underway
my times in a 60 meter hurdles went from
a 7.9 eight in Advent that I’d never
done to a 7.5 eight in just a matter of
five weeks I ultimately gone from
someone that could barely make a
conference final two by the end of that
particular indoor season that year being
ranked as the 15th fastest hurdler in
the world in just those five weeks
[Applause]
from there I continue to ride this
momentum and enjoy the ride all along
the way and at the very last track meet
I had as a collegiate athlete the NCAA
Championships in the semifinal round I
accomplished something that I thought
that was completely impossible when this
journey got started I ultimately ended
up qualifying and competing in my first
Olympics that summer which was Beijing
in 2008 since then I’ve gone on to
accomplish more impossible tasks such as
competing in two more Olympics London
2012 in Rio 2016 with a host of other
world championships and other major
championships along the way some of
those championships have been a
semifinalist and a finalist in see none
of this would have been possible had a
not stepped out and challenged what
seemed to be the impossible we are the
ultimate builders of our future by what
we are faced with and our mental
approach in combatting each and every
task never take yourself to the court of
public opinion find yourself guilty and
ultimately sentence yourself to a life
that is far less greater than than what
you were ever destined to live if
something always seems impossible and
you never challenge that impossible is
what it shall always remain but if you
think for one second that it is possible
and you decide to go out and step step
out on faith and challenge that then get
ready for the great things that are
about to happen in your life thank you [Applause]
Forbes
I am a three-time Olympian in the sport
of track and field
representing the beautiful Cayman
Islands and thank you and making what
seemed to be the impossible possible is
something I’ve done my entire life you
all have done it as well whether you
choose to believe that or not
see at some point in your life some
place some time something had to seem
impossible and until you decided to go
at it and challenge what seemed to be
the impossible it always remained
impossible see we’re a combination of
what we see and what we think then how
we act upon those thoughts say for
instance I wanted you to simply jump
over a pothole that was in the middle of
the street to get to the next side many
of us would simply just hop right over
it it’s not a really impossible task to
do but if I wanted you to say cross the
gap between two buildings and I wanted
you to do it walking over a tight wire
many of us would never dare take the
first step why I acts for the simple
fact of failing and falling see this
task became a little bit more impossible
when we started to act upon what we
thought based on what we saw and
sometimes in combating the impossible we
have to learn to bridge the mental gap
of what the impossible is and what the
possible is but in the process of
building that mental bridge we as humans
tend to learn to build walls first walls
in terms of stuff that hold us back
simply out of nowhere and it stops us
from achieving anything great and these
walls sometimes are comprised of bricks
bricks in terms of the
years doubts opinions and they’re often
cemented together by excuses and until
we stop building these walls that simply
hold us back from doing such great
things we often end up living a life
that is far less greater than we were
ever destined to live I guess that’s the
story of my life if you to tell this
young little boy that 20-something odd
years ago that he would one day become
an Olympian he would first look at you
like you were absolutely crazy then he
would pretty much just run away see my
mind frame back then is completely
different than it is now I was a person
that allowed other people’s fears their
doubts their opinions to somehow factor
in into my daily life and I started to
realize that by me having that
incorporated into my daily life I never
really challenged much and with me not
challenging much nothing really got
accomplished but that sort of all
changed one day during a PE class when
my PE teacher mr. Geary took up a discus
and he threw it onto the field and he
dared someone anyone in the class to
surpass where he threw his and of course
you’re 12 years old so everyone thought
that that was impossible he’s a grown
man but for some reason that day I
didn’t see it as impossible so I took up
a discus and I threw mines onto the
field and not only did it surpass where
he threw his it surpassed where I
thought thought I was gonna throw my’s
as well now after being told that I had
to show up at the next day’s evening
practice which I was clearly against
because I didn’t like running I didn’t
like jumping I didn’t like track and
field I didn’t like the sport period
however I decided to step out and to
challenge that as well right there was
where my track and field career got ass
kick start now after being a discus and
shot foot thrower for a while yo yes
those were my first events I slowly
start to gravitate towards the one event
that many people shy away from that
event is the event of the herd
why do many people shy away from the
hurdles simply for the fact once again
of failing and falling you see if I had
a dollar for every single time that
someone’s told me their story of well
Ron one time I tried the hurdles and I
hit the hurdle I fell so I never did it
again
I would be a rich individual she’s the
one event that didn’t allow me a comfort
zone it challenged who I was on the
track in the challenge who I was off of
the track now going into high school
instead of doing the 100 hurdles because
I got a little bit older I had to do the
400 hurdles and when I got into high
school I started to envision track and
feel as this whole other bigger and
greater entity not just simply just
running I started to see the
possibilities in it I started to see one
of the possibilities of track and field
as a way for me to get from where I was
to where I wanted to go and it’s a
bridge and in that journey I wanted to
go to school I wanted to one day somehow
and vish myself being an Olympian but in
order to make any of those things
possible I had to get better my
performances simply were not good enough
therefore had to train harder and that’s
exactly what I set out to do I set out
on a mission in order to achieve those
two things going to school and trying to
be an Olympian so I got up every single
morning at 4:45 catch the bus from our
side all the way to the airport
malfunction Junction and from there I
would job from that malfunction junction
with a backpack on my back in a duffel
bag across my shoulders all the way to
Truman Barden Sports Complex getting
here around maybe 6:30 I would train
from 6:30 until quarter to 9:00 dinner
was off to school all day and after
school was finished from
o’clock until 5:30 it was back to
training again in a nutshell for me this
was my high school experience needless
to say was not easy and maintaining that
but during that time a transition took
place I got better
I got faster I got stronger and one of
those seem like a seemingly impossible
task that I set out to do became
possible that was I attained a
scholarship to go off to college right
out of high school and man was I excited
but right then life didn’t throw me a
bridge it threw me a wall in 2002 I’d
applied for my student visa and I was
ultimately denied I was sent back home
and told that it would be an entire year
before I could reapply ultimately losing
that scholarship offer so for three
weeks
I quit track and field I decided it was
too much work too much risk for too
little reward but I was encouraged after
a while to come back to try to cross
that bridge from where I was to where I
wanted to go one last time so I did but
high school was over now I was into the
real world I had to find work so after
scouring about for a bit I eventually
landed my first job ever as an adult at
Al Thompson’s appliance Center as
appliance delivery personnel and they
were the plot there at the Appliance
Center I continued to work I continued
to study I continued to strive even
harder and after year or so of working
there in competing during that time I
got better and I regained that
scholarship offer and in the end of 2003
I reapplied for that student visa and
this time I was approved and in January
of 2004 I was off to bake own college
in Muskogee Oklahoma now judging by the
looks in your faces
some were wondering well where is that
that is the same question I asked myself
it’s pretty much in the middle of
nowhere
it was not the best of schools it was
not my first choice however I had
accomplished something that I thought
was impossible which was to get into
school and there at Bay cone with it not
being my first choice it was simply an
ace that I had to play like a king I
continued to work I continued to study I
continued to compete and just after my
first semester at attract me in Mexico
life threw me one of the biggest bridges
in its most simplest forms that today
I’ve ever received in my entire life in
a simple form of a business card that
was given to me one morning at the
airport by the then head coach of
Florida International University I
simply took the card stuck into my
wallet thought nothing of it when I
returned back to back home for my second
semester or the start of my second
semester I learned that the head coach
had left so was 75% of the team had gone
with him once again I faced the scenario
of being on my own completely alone was
there with no family no friends in two
weeks after Hurricane Ivan but I
continued to stay hopeful I continued to
Train sometimes even in my own in the
snow in the heat in the rain and
ultimately thinking one day that this
was not how I envisioned four years of
college to go this was this wasn’t a
plan this is this was not how I
envisioned list I decided to step out of
faith and after digging up in my wallet
I found that card and on my way to class
one morning I decided to send an email
to the address on that card and 20
minutes later I had a reply he’d
remembered who I was and what time I had
performed
and just so happens right then he was
looking for a 400 meter hurdle and there
I was and after conversing awhile at the
very last email that we ever sent was
some words that never forget with your
times I could offer you a full
scholarship to Florida International
University a Division one program
needless to say that I accepted and once
the paperwork was done I was out gone
and in January 2005
I arrived at Florida International
University where everything completely
changed you see for a time being this
coach had the bright idea that I was a
perfect fit for an alternate leg on the
shuttle hurdle relay going to Penn
Relays that year I’ve never done this
event in my entire life
so he said hey Ron will show up the two
evening practices and we see how it
works so I did I showed up to the to
evening practices not two weeks just two
practices and at the we upcoming weekend
he had the other bright idea to throw me
into my first race nervous was not the
word I stared down at ten hurdles
thinking that this was not going to end
good and this was completely impossible
but the gun went off and I survived and
just two weeks later he had the other
bright idea again to throw me into my
second race but something changed in
between week one and week two I didn’t
look at the event as being impossible
anymore because I’d done it the first
time so when I lined up I knew I could
get it done he might not been the
prettiest but I know I could get it done
and this time not only did I survive I
became the fastest hurdler in the school
from there it only got better I
continued to get faster I continued to
work harder I continued to train even
harder every single day I made a couple
of national teams broke
couple of national records even took
down a conference title here and there
but for some reason some things still
existed deep inside of me saying that I
know I’m better than what I am at this
present moment but change was slow to
come but then in 2008 with the change of
mine came a big change in performance I
stopped looking at life and the event as
one of impossibilities and barriers and
stuff that I couldn’t do and stop
concentrating and compiling those in a
pile and start looking at the things
that I could do and really honing in and
focusing on all of those possibilities
and in 2008 it changed my performance
drastically simply with the change of
mine in just five weeks
of my 2008 track and field collegiate
track and field season getting underway
my times in a 60 meter hurdles went from
a 7.9 eight in Advent that I’d never
done to a 7.5 eight in just a matter of
five weeks I ultimately gone from
someone that could barely make a
conference final two by the end of that
particular indoor season that year being
ranked as the 15th fastest hurdler in
the world in just those five weeks
[Applause]
from there I continue to ride this
momentum and enjoy the ride all along
the way and at the very last track meet
I had as a collegiate athlete the NCAA
Championships in the semifinal round I
accomplished something that I thought
that was completely impossible when this
journey got started I ultimately ended
up qualifying and competing in my first
Olympics that summer which was Beijing
in 2008 since then I’ve gone on to
accomplish more impossible tasks such as
competing in two more Olympics London
2012 in Rio 2016 with a host of other
world championships and other major
championships along the way some of
those championships have been a
semifinalist and a finalist in see none
of this would have been possible had a
not stepped out and challenged what
seemed to be the impossible we are the
ultimate builders of our future by what
we are faced with and our mental
approach in combatting each and every
task never take yourself to the court of
public opinion find yourself guilty and
ultimately sentence yourself to a life
that is far less greater than than what
you were ever destined to live if
something always seems impossible and
you never challenge that impossible is
what it shall always remain but if you
think for one second that it is possible
and you decide to go out and step step
out on faith and challenge that then get
ready for the great things that are
about to happen in your life thank you [Applause]
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