The first word that comes to mind when you think of Denise Lewis is 'trailblazer'. Her iconic Sydney 2000 gold paved the way for British heptathlon stars of the future as she became the first-ever European athlete to be crowned Olympic heptathlon champion.
The facts
Born: West Bromwich, West Midlands
Age: 50
Olympics: Atlanta 1996, Sydney 2000, Athens 2004
Olympic medals: Bronze 1996; Gold 2000
The journey
Lewis burned bright but fought the tide of injury throughout her career.
In 1988, a 16-year-old Lewis watched the Seoul Olympics in awe from Wolverhampton and was enraptured by the official song - Whitney Houston’s ‘One Moment In Time’.
On Olympic debut she recovered from a poor start to reach the rostrum by a slender margin of five points, the only British woman to win an athletics medal at Atlanta 1996.
Despite ongoing physical issues her performances continued to go from strength-to-strength, leading to a dramatic Olympic victory four years later as the first British heptathlete to reach the podium at two successive Olympics.
Lewis is considered to be one of the ‘golden girls’ of British athletics, inducted into the UK Athletics Hall of Fame in 2011 and receiving a damehood for her services to sport in the 2023 New Year's Honours List.
She is still at the beating heart of British sport as the President of Commonwealth Games England and a respected pundit.
The inspiration
Just months before her London 2012 golden glory, Jessica Ennis-Hill smashed Lewis' heptathlon record of 6831 points.
The record had stood strong since 2000, a feat inspired by Lewis' pathfinding achievements 12 years prior.
"It helps to have someone to look up to and who inspires you," said Ennis-Hill. "For me, that person has always been Denise Lewis.
"She was an incredible heptathlete and I saw what she was doing and winning that Olympic gold medal in Sydney and I was instantly inspired.
"It gave me that urge to push on and try to achieve something similar."
Lewis crossed the line for gold in Sydney after 800 agonising metres with her left leg strapped due to a calf and Achilles injury.
Two decades later, 2019 world champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson was struck by the same injury ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Despite not having the Olympic title to match her inspirations, Johnson-Thompson has become one of Britain's greatest-ever heptathletes over her career and owes the success of her rehabilitation journey to Lewis.
“Denise was a big help in my move to France for training,” said Johnson-Thompson.
“She was the person I went over there with in the first place and she has had a big sway in the way my life went, as did Jess inspiring me in 2012.”
The legacy
Since Lewis' gold in 2000, British heptathlon has burst to life and has no plans of slowing down any time soon.
Her achievement's paved the way for Jess Ennis-Hill's 'Super Saturday' victory, Kelly Sotherton's Beijing bronze and Katrina Johnson-Thompson's indoor and outdoor world titles.
New stars on the scene include Niamh Emerson, who was crowned world junior champion in 2018 and bagged Commonwealth bronze the same year, as well as heptathlete Holly Mills who had a stellar youth career as a long jumper.
And as British heptathlon roars into a third golden decade, it all comes back to one person: Denise Lewis.
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