The Sydney Olympics produced no shortage of iconic Team GB moments – and Denise Lewis’ heptathlon gold is right up there with the best of them.
Lewis had finished on the podium four years previously, picking up a bronze in Atlanta, and won golds at two Commonwealth Games and a European Championships.
The Olympic crown was her ultimate goal, however, and a haul of 6,584 points was enough for Lewis to reach the summit of her sport in Sydney having overcome several setbacks along the way.
As part of Team GB’s Moments That Made Me podcast, Lewis spoke to Radzi Chinyanganya about the building blocks and turning points that helped shape her journey to glory.
The full conversation is available on the Moments That Made Me podcast, in association with the University of Hull, and is available on iTunes, Google and Spotify.
Simply search Team GB wherever you get your podcasts from and you’ll find the Moments That Made Me podcast.
Moment One – Olympic dreams
In 1988, a 16-year-old Lewis watched in awe from Wolverhampton as the Seoul Olympics got into full swing.
And as well as the action on the track, the future Team GB star was inspired by the soundtrack to the games – Whitney Houston’s ‘One Moment In Time’.
“Every line seemed to speak to me,” she said.
“I was a junior international, I was competing for my club – I was on the Olympic pathway mentally, if not physically.
“That song brought me to tears and made me realise I wanted it so badly.
“Those lyrics – ‘give me one moment in time where I’m more than I thought I’d be’. If you know my history – coming from Wolverhampton in a single-parent family, I just wanted an opportunity to be more than I thought I could be.
“Those words resonated with me. I told myself ‘you’ve got to commit and you’ve got to believe’.”
Lewis’ upbringing played an influential role in her development. She credits her mum for instilling in her a drive and tenacity which manifested itself in the belief that “if you want something, you have to work hard for it – there’s no other way.”
Moment Two – Injury agony
The following year, 1989, Lewis was in Italy competing in a European junior event when disaster struck.
“I was there for the long jump and sustained a horrific knee injury,” she said.
“It kept me out for close to 12 months. The journey back was painful, I had to undergo surgery and the swelling was unbelievable – it was triple the size of my normal knee.”
As part of her recovery, Lewis’ routines had to be altered significantly. She had to learn to high jump off the other leg so as not to apply too much weight on her injured knee, and
Lewis believes it took around 18 months to “get back to feeling like an athlete again.”
“It was a challenge and I wondered if my career was going to be over before it really began,” she added.
Physio sessions meant a bus, train and long walk into Birmingham – “I had blisters from my hands from the crutches” – but, looking back on it, she believes it was representative of the inner steel which formed part of the necessary character-building on her path to the top.
“I am proud of those challenges and obstacles that tested me as it stood me in good stead later in my career when I was up against it,” she said.
Moment Three – Golden Girl
Come 2000, “it was now or never” for Lewis after two World Championship silvers and two Commonwealth games titles.
She was third after the first day of competition in Sydney, but a solid long jump and an excellent javelin throw pushed her right into gold medal contention.
As it had in the Commonwealth Games six years previously, it all came down to the 800m – and again Lewis dug deep to stay top of the pile, finishing 53 points clear of Yelena Prokhorova in the overall standings.
“To win there was just everything,” she said.
“It was the validation I needed for my journey. My mum was in the stadium at every Championships - she was there in Sydney and cried like a baby. It was nice to share that moment trackside.”
Though Lewis admitted to regrets over competing in Athens four years later – she was forced to withdraw through injury after the long jump – her career as a whole was a story of undoubted triumph.
She was a pioneer in her sport and an inspiration for the British heptathlon stars who have followed in her footsteps, including Jessica Ennis-Hill and Katarina Johnson-Thompson.
Athletics fans continue to benefit from her insight as a pundit at major events and her journey shows just what can happen when talent meets persistence and determination.