Kelly Holmes is best known for her achievements as an athlete, winning 12 major medals at Commonwealth, European, World and Olympic gatherings, including a famous 800/1500m Olympic double at Athens in 2004. However, her passion for sport did not stop when she hung up her shoes in 2005, for she is now championing sport for girls.

Young Star

Kelly Holmes was born on 19 April, 1970, in Pembury, Kent, to a British West Indian father, Constantine Holmes and a British mother, Pamela Norman. Her parents split up when she was a child and Holmes grew up on a council estate in Hildenborough with her mother and step father, Michael Norris, alongside three brothers, Kevin, Stuart and Danny, and two sisters, Lisa and Penny. Norman later recalled to the Guardian newspaper that, even as a child, Holmes despised losing.

It was a bit of a pain living with her sometimes. When she was a girl and we got the board games out for her to play with her brothers and sister, if she wasn't winning, up the board would go and it all went up the wall.

Her passion for sport came when she took part in PE at school. Her teacher Debbie Page was a great advocate of sport and a great inspiration to the young Holmes. She was the fastest child in the school and when she came second in a school cross-country challenge it was Page who inspired her to focus on athletics. Holmes also tried out other activities such as ballet, gymnastics and martial arts, which she particularly enjoyed, but it was athletics that outshone the rest. At the age of 12 she joined Tonbridge Athletic Club, and with help from her mentor David Arnold became 1500m English Schools Junior Champion in 1983 and then Senior Champion in 1987 at the same distance:

It was clear from the start that she had a tremendous talent. She was hugely determined to win from the very beginning and what you saw on Monday night was exactly what she showed when she was young. She was a nightmare if she lost, frankly.

Going Barmy Army

Realising that there was little money in becoming a full time athlete, she followed another dream of hers by joining the army, becoming an HGV driver with the Women's Royal Army Corps at the age of 18. Although being a lorry driver wasn't exactly what Holmes had hoped to be in the army, she gained skills that she believes stood her in good stead for being a runner in later life: discipline, respect for herself and others, and physical strength and focus. In the army she played volleyball and obtained a blue belt in judo, which led her to become Army champion.She also became a physical training instructor in the Adjutant's General Corps and enjoyed life in the army so much that she wasn't prepared for army coach Wes Duncan's suggestion that she put her athletics career back on track.

I was enjoying life being completely army barmy and didn't want to start training full-time.

Returning to Running

Having donned her running shoes once again, Holmes had success in 1993, smashing the English 800m record at the World Championships in Stuttgart. Just a year later she won 1500m gold at the Commonwealth Games in Victoria, followed by silver at the European Championships in Helsinki. In 1995 she won further medals, a silver in the 1500m and bronze in the 800m at the World Championships in Gothenburg. Sally Gunnell, a gold medallist and commentator who worked alongside Holmes said:

Kelly was a great person to have around the team. She wasn't one of those who was locked in their room reading a book. She also had this huge determination to win despite the numerous injuries she suffered. Every time she got to a major championships something seemed to go wrong but she never stopped believing she could do it.

Facing Failure

However, it soon became clear that her career as an athlete appeared to be jinxed by all sorts of health issues. She suffered a stress fracture in the 800m race at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996, leaving her in fourth place. She obtained bronze in Sydney after suffering from a virus, but then ruptured her Achilles tendon at the 1997 World Championships in Athens.

Every single year I've said 'oh, if only I hadn't had that injury I'd have done even better'.

Holmes had set her sights on gold and the fact that she was being let down by one injury after another led her to self harm and depression.

Fighting Back

Then in 2002, Holmes flew out to South Africa where she met up with 800m runner Maria Mutola and her American trainer Margot Jennings.

Maria has so much experience, she has won so much that you cannot fail to become a better athlete by being with her, I feel I am stronger than ever.

Holmes' pure determination and dedication to athletics paid off at Athens in 2004 when she won two Olympic Gold Medals and once again smashed the British record for the 1500m. Her idol Sebastian Coe had this to say about her win:

I remember coming across this kid in the early 1990s who just loved to race, and that's how she won the gold ... A lot of athletes are happy just to run good times and go through the motions. Kelly is not like that. She doesn't need pacemakers to follow, she knows how to think her way through the rounds of an Olympic competition, and these days she can cope with whatever is thrown at her during a final.

Finishing on a High

On this high note Holmes felt it was time to hang up her running shoes, and in 2005 she did just that. That same year, she was awarded the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award and was made a Dame of the British Empire by the Queen.

Today, Holmes leads an active life inspiring children, particularly girls, to lead active lives, by passing on her passion for sport. An ambassador in the role of National School Sports Champion, she aims to increase the number of teenage girls taking part in sport at school. She is also continuing her successful initiative On Camp With Kelly, which was set up to help budding athletes of the future, as well as other initiatives including Believe to Achieve With Kelly, Team B&Q and the DKH Legacy Trust.