Avernel Modest took a leap of faith in her quest to be the best and was rewarded with bronze medal at the Ms Olympia Amateur Bikini Competition held at the Orange County Convention Centre in Orlando, Florida on Tuesday.

“We took home the bronze medal at the prestigious @amateurolympia. Thank you to everyone for the continuous support, success is not final because there’s always work to be done,” the Trinidadian-born fitness athlete posted on her Instagram account.

Coached by the respected Dr Jean-Luc de Ganot, Modest won her Pro Card in 2017 but gave it up to enter the Ms Olympia Amateur contest. “The pro card is not everything,” she explained to Sportsmax.TV. "It’s about a champion mindset. I want to be compared to the best and this league is the best, even in the amateur ranks. Making that decision (to relinquish her pro card) and making the podium is a big deal.”

Sharon Ramos won the category (Class F) with Jessica Maguire, the runner-up.

The next goal on the pathway to becoming the best for Modest is to win her IFBB Pro Card.

Kristen McGregor, 2020 Miss Olympia Amateur, hampered by the lack of consistent financial support in her home country of Jamaica, has launched a GoFundMe page in the hope of raising just over USD$12,000 that would help her achieve her goal of participating in the Ms Olympia Competition in December.

Easily Jamaica’s most successful female fitness athlete of the modern era, McGregor a former track and field athlete, has won national fitness titles and in 2018 was crowned CAC Champion in the category of Body Fitness Tall Class.

A 2021 Prime Minister Youth Awardee, McGregor has placed in the top five in most of her international competitions and harbours the ambition of one day winning the coveted Ms Olympia title for herself and her country.

In late April, she competed and placed fifth in the Figure competition at the Fit Muscle Championships in Mexico. It is essential that she competes in similar events leading up to December in order to accumulate the necessary qualification points to make it to the Ms Olympia contest.

Alas, this is proving to be more easily said than done as it has proven difficult to find the financial resources needed to compete regularly. Her next competition is in June and she is pondering whether she will be able to get there.

 “The major challenge I face as a national athlete is corporate sponsorship. I am a bit disappointed with the responses I received for sponsorship requests seeking help to represent my country and hoping that I would have gotten good responses, even given the fact that I am a recipient of the Prime Minister's Youth Award,” McGregor told Sportsmax.TV after her return from Mexico.

 However, she remains hopeful.

 “I do hope that going forward I might receive better responses from other corporations and our sporting body,” she said.

 “The lack of support and sponsorship can impact my goals to represent Jamaica at the Olympia, as I am unable to cover the expenses related to travel and accommodation to participate in the various competitions, where I can only compete as a professional athlete in my discipline. It is my dream to represent Jamaica at the highest level of bodybuilding.”

 Contributions to McGregor’s GoFundMe page can be made at https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-kristen-make-it-to-the-olympia-competition?member=19126721&sharetype=teams&utm_campaign=p_na+share-sheet&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=customer