Page 57 - Great Elizabethans

TOUGH SERGEANT
At first Kelly was a truck driver, but then became an army fitness instructor. Sergeant Holmes was respected, but known for being tough! After a few years, Kelly decided to return to athletics again, and in 1992 she took up serious training. By 1994, she had won gold in the 1,500 metres at the Commonwealth Games – and was still in the army!
As well as winning races, Kelly was great at volleyball and became the army’s female judo champion – she was an amazing all–round athlete.
MAKING HISTORY
But then, at the Athens Olympic Games in 2004, Kelly made history! In an incredibly close race, she won the gold medal in the 800 metres – and, five days later, a second gold in the 1,500 metres! That night, she slept with her medals on her bedside table, unable to believe she had finally realised her childhood dream – and become one of the most successful British track athletes of all time.
Not long afterwards, Kelly was given a damehood by the Queen. Soon after that, she set up the Dame Kelly Holmes Trust, a charity that helps young people facing difficulties in their lives by giving them the chance to be mentored by world-class athletes.
Although she is now retired from professional athletics, Dame Kelly continues to inspire and motivate people – and to run. (But although she is such a brilliant athlete, she hates swimming and really doesn’t like getting wet!)
Kelly is now an honorary colonel in the Royal Armoured Corps Training Regiment, making her Colonel Dame Kelly Holmes – the only Colonel Dame in the world.
A FEW SETBACKS
But the next few years were hard for Kelly. Although she set British records for the 800 metres and 1,000 metres in 1995, a fractured bone stopped her winning a medal in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Just when she should have been winning international competitions,
she had to spend months with her leg in plaster. In 1997, when she finally left the army
to devote herself to athletics full-time, she set the UK record for the 1,500 metres – but another serious injury at the Athens World Championships slammed the brakes on again.
However hard she worked to get fitter and stronger, injuries continued to slow Kelly down. Her mental health suffered too – she got very depressed in 2003, just before the World Championships, when she had yet another injury. At the age of 33 – past the peak for many professional athletes – it seemed Kelly’s dreams of winning an Olympic gold medal were gone for good.