World champion cyclist Sarah Kent and Australian water polo shot stopper Luke Quinlivan shared their Olympic dreams with Geraldton school children this week.

The two WA Institute of Sport athletes were in town to promote the “Go For 2 & 5” healthy eating campaign.

Kent was a member of Australia’s gold medal winning pursuit team at the World Track Cycling Championships in Denmark last year.

Quinlivan, like Kent, is eyeing a place in the Australian team for the London 2012 Olympics.

The goalkeeper took gold with Australia at the 2009 World University Games in Serbia and represented his nation at the FINA World Championships in Rome the same year.

Quinlivan was impressed with the sport mad culture among the Geraldton pupils.

“All the kids seemed to have a sense of enthusiasm about getting out of the classroom and doing physical activity which is fantastic,” he said.

Quinlivan narrowly missed the cut for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

He encouraged aspiring sportspeople to take criticism on the chin if they want to make the top level.

“The biggest thing for any athlete is to accept criticism in all of its forms and acknowledge when you’ve made a mistake,” he said.

“It’s always easy to train the things that you’re already good at, but training the things you hate doing and are not good at is certainly the key to the kingdom.”

Kent aspires to be in Australia’s pursuit team at London next year, and has a gold medal in her crosshairs.

She said she had a lot to prove after she was overlooked at the UCI Track Cycling World Championships in the Netherlands last month.

“I know with the right form I can be there,” Kent said, about making the Olympics.

“I’ve always wanted to be the best at everything I do, so hopefully this is another thing I can achieve,” she said.