Olympic skeleton bob sled gold medalist Lizzy Yarnold passes on her winning formula to Beaminster School pupils

The 27-year-old athlete summed it up quite simply: 'don't give up'.

Since winning her medal in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi Lizzy has been spending time in schools inspiring the athletes of the future.

She said: "It is something that I really enjoy doing. I remember athletes coming into my gold - like Goldie Sayers the javelin thrower.

"I don't remember exactly what she said but over the years the thing that stuck with me is the fact that she took the time."

It was the start of her dream and since the age of 12 Lizzy has wanted to be an Olympic contender.

She said: "My dream was always to go to the Olympics not necessarily to win or do well but just to say that I was an Olympian.

"I hope that I can try and show them that you can do whatever you want to but don't give up, it can be anything it doesn't have to be sport."

She freely admitted to her audience that it wasn't love at first run down the ice - in fact she didn't even want to do a second one.

But everyone else did and she didn't want to be the only one to walk away.

She said: "It might not surprise any of you that I didn't grow up wanting to be a skeleton athlete."

She said academics were never her strong point but she was naturally good at sport.

She admitted to trying every sport under the sun from high board diving, to hockey and athletics but it was until she was 19 and entered a Girls for Gold talent competition she found the one she excelled at.

Lizzie Yarnold coaching a bit of javelin throwing

She went to a testing day and she got through even though she had not idea what she was being tested for.

She said: "I got a letter saying 'you have been selected for the skeleton'. I had never heard of the sport before."

She was sent a DVD and thought it looked ridiculous but was willing to give it a try.

After a six-month X factor for sport training period she had to go down a bobsleigh track at 70mph.

She said: "I was crying. I was petrified. I had camping mats attached to every part of my body I didn't know where I was going to hit the walls. I hit every wall going down and when I got out I was in tears.

"I was in the changing rooms I thought I don't want to have another go at that but all the over people in the room were going to. I was going to be the only one left.

"I knew that I had to try again and maybe fail. Failure is not a bad thing. I would rather fail and have a go than not do it and never know how good I could be."

From there she went on to her Olympic success.

Lizzie's gold medal - Russian bling, she says

She said: "I was desperate not to let anyone down."

After the last run she looked at her family and realised she'd done what she set out to do.

"All those years of sacrifice and training and trying to do my best at last it was something I could be proud of .

"I did it by never giving up, by not limiting myself. If you limit yourself you can never go beyond that. When you work really hard for something it will be so much sweeter to achieve it, because you will."

Headmaster Keith Hales echoed her message: "Seizing opportunities is something we talk about a lot. Try something and look where it leads. You never know where it is going to go but if you don't try you will never know."

Lizzie talking to Beaminster School GCSE students