"It's wrong for people to set limits on anything we want to achieve."

Gold medalist James Cracknell inspires delegates at BSAVA Congress

"It's wrong for people to set limits on anything we want to achieve," said double Olympic gold medalist James Cracknell OBE, as he gave a truly inspirational lecture on overcoming limitations at this year's BSAVA Congress.

In 2010, the rowing champion was hit by a fuel truck as he attempted to complete a cycling challenge travelling across the US in 18 days. James was left with damage to the frontal lobes, which affect mood, motivation, facial recognition and the ability to plan.

Alternately prompting awe and laughter among the audience, James joked: "If someone tells me I can't do something, I don't listen to them."

On a more serious note, he added: "The one thing I think we do too much of as a society, especially after an accident like that, is to set limits on people…If you say: 'I'm going to try and do that and I believe I can do that', you've got every chance of getting there and that's the way I've tried to approach things."

Following the accident, James was left with epilepsy and he says he lost a lot of articulacy, empathy and motivation. Nonetheless, just months afterwards, he competed in the Yukon Arctic Ultra Race across the Alaskan countryside.

"For me it was a case of showing that actually I could get back to doing some of the things that I did before."

Limitations placed on him after his accident only spurred him on. "I really object to being told what I can and can't do and what I can and can't achieve, so if someone sets limitations on me I'm determined to prove them wrong," he explained.

This persistence and determination can be seen in James' successes prior to his accident. After four years of training for the Olympics, he was unable to compete in the 1996 games due to tonsillitis. Further setbacks came in 2003 when he failed to win the world championships, one year before achieving a gold medal at the Olympics in Athens. A key strategy to success and motivation was, he said, "treating every race you won as the one you lost."

Following this, he and Ben Fogle completed a 3,000 mile rowing race from the Canary Islands to the Caribbean, and later a race to the South Pole during which they suffered frostbite, infected blisters, exhaustion and pneumonia.

Explaining how he overcomes pain during such gruelling physical challenges, James said teamwork is a key motivation; if you fail "you're going to let them down, they're going to know you've let them down and I think that keeps you going when things get tough."

Having used his "brawn rather than brain as a sportsman", James said he now hopes to achieve something for future generations through his work as a senior research fellow for obesity and physical activity at think tank Policy Exchange.

In the UK, only 39 per cent of men and 29 per cent of women meet guidelines for daily exercise requirements.

"For me the Olympics shouldn't have been about finding the next Mo Farah or Wiggins," James said. "It should be about getting us all to live a little more healthily, make the most of our lives, our kids' lives and their kids' lives."

Results of his work at the think tank will not be achieved within one term of Government, or perhaps within his generation, he says, but he hopes to benefit future generations and prove that it's wrong to set limits on our achievements.

Image courtesy of Steve Burden Photography