Kelly Holmes won two gold medals on the athletics track at Athens 2004 in one of the most enduring Olympic performances of recent times. A pioneer on and off the field of play, she is encrusted in the memories of the current generation of Team GB athletes.
The facts
Born: Pembury, Kent
Age: 52
Olympics: Atlanta 1996, Sydney 2000, Athens 2004
Olympic medals: Bronze 2000, Gold x2 2004
The story
Holmes initially stopped athletics to join the army aged 17, but changed her mind after watching an athlete who she’d competed against and beaten reach the 1992 Olympics.
While battling mental health issues, she amassed 12 senior international medals and set three long-standing British records.
After an oft-forgotten bronze at Sydney 2000, Holmes went on to do the vaunted middle-distance double in Athens, the third female athlete ever to do so and the first British athlete to win two golds at the same Games since 1920.
The inspiration
Holmes is the name you hear most when asking the current crop of athletes about their strongest memories of watching the Games.
Keely Hodgkinson won 800m silver in Tokyo to become the first British woman to win a medal in the event since Holmes and break her British record.
The pair even exchanged messages throughout the teenager’s Olympic debut.
“Kelly Holmes is a legend,” said Hodgkinson after her medal win. “I have always looked up to her.
“I have been speaking to her for the past couple of days and she is a lovely person.”
Laura Muir lowered Holmes' national 1500m record in 2016 and was overcome by emotions, knowing that she had felled one of the greatest records to emerge for her generation.
"It’s going to be one of the highlights of my career forever," she said.
"All records are going to be hard to break. They are records for a reason.
"But for it to be Kelly's was very special. It’s the record she took in winning gold in an Olympics too. So, it was an iconic record and one that had stood for a long time.
"I never thought I'd have my name alongside the likes of Kelly's."
The Legacy
Holmes’ achievements paved the way for a middle-distance golden generation and the likes of Muir, Hodgkinson, world champion Jake Wightman, Josh Kerr and many more.
Dame Kelly Holmes introduces Laura Muir as "your future Olympic champion" as the 25-year-old is named Scottish athlete of the year.https://t.co/7z3sOPv5AT pic.twitter.com/js24JbPiIT
— BBC Sport Scotland (@BBCSportScot) November 4, 2018
Holmes came out as gay in 2022 and her activity in the LGBTQ+ and mental health space has made her a pivotal figure in the journeys of hundreds of British Olympic athletes.
Holmes has highlighted the pressure and stress athletes are placed under - inspiring others to seek help or speak out. Her openness in sharing such struggles with the world led the way for others to be proud of who they really are.
Team GB Trailblazers - celebrating seven iconic British female athletes who paved the way
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" - Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill.
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