Kelly's bronze glory

IT was billed as the greatest single day of athletics in the history of the Olympic Games: Monday September 25, 2000. In Sydney, the programme provided such anticipation that one million people attempted to buy tickets for a stadium that held 115,000.

The reason was Cathy Freeman, the heroine of Australia, who was running in the 400m final. Those lucky enough to have a seat in the arena saw her amazing triumph along with Haile Gebrselassie winning the 10,000m and Michael Johnson retaining his 400m title.

It was some evening for Britain, too. Jonathan Edwards won gold in the triple jump and in the middle of all the drama, came one of the best races of the whole Games and, along with it, one of the quotes of the year: "I can't believe it".

It is a saying that is often heard from an Olympian who achieves their dreams, or something beyond their wildest expectations. But this time it was extra special because Britain's Kelly Holmes said it 22 times in four minutes.

She was in the bowels of Stadium Australia, still getting her breath back, after finishing third in the final of the 800m. The smile was beaming from her face because in a year where she had suffered injury turmoil again, she had made it to the Games and won a bronze medal.

AAAs Indoors

Kelly set a championship best performance of 2:01.40 when winning the AAA Indoor 800m title by five seconds in 2004 and set a European indoor record of 2:32.96 for 1000m at the Norwich Union Grand Prix, as Mozambique's Maria Mutola went crashing to the track, leaving Kelly to take gold.

Norwich Union world trials, Sheffield

The 33-year-old turned the 800 metres at the Norwich Union World Trials into a solo display as she clocked a championship record two minutes 1.40 seconds. Holmes streaked clear from the start to win by over five seconds from Becky Lyne at the English Institute of Sport.

"That was a good run-out, a little speed work," said Holmes.

“I am very pleased with the run, it is such a shame Maria fell over because it could have made an even better race and finish.  I think it is the first time I have been in front of her in a race, it is a shame, but I am very pleased with my performance.  I have had some problems with my chest leading up to this, so I wasn’t sure how I was going to go, but I felt really strong and very positive.  The crowd were excellent and really helped.  It’s great running here.

“I am going back to Valencia to train and concentrate on running the 1500m in the World Indoor Championships”.

World Indoors

Kelly's hopes of a medal at the World Indoor Championships literally went crashing when she fell in the 1500m final, picking herself up to finish ninth.

Holmes rejoined the field after hitting the ground after 600m.

But the gutsy former army sergeant was unable to make up the 20m gap and crossed the line last in four minutes 12.30 seconds.

Holmes had picked out Ethiopia's Kutre Dulecha, the eventual winner, as her main threat before the race and said: "I knew I could have won it. My plan was to move onto her shoulder with 400m left.

"That's why I started to move through to the front. I wanted to be with her.

"Then I just went down. At the end of the day, I don't know what happened and can't remember what was going through my mind.

"When something like that occurs, I suppose you just react instinctively. I jumped up and got back to them, but then my adrenaline quickly ran out."

Delecha blitzed the last 300m to cruise to gold in four minutes 06.40 seconds.

Holmes was lost for words after the stumble which prevented her turning last year's world silver medal into gold.

"I fell, I tried and I didn't get a medal," said the 33-year-old. "I'm gutted and there's really nothing to say. I honestly believed I could have won that race."

Holmes said she did not think about pulling out of the race after her tumble. "I didn't want to give up, I got up and kept running," she told BBC Radio Five Sports Extra.

"I felt so gutted. Everything was going perfectly. It was something I wanted to win more than anything else.

"There is the possibility of falling but I never thought it would happen in a final. Now I've just got to get myself ready for the summer."

Holmes' American coach Margo Jennings, who encouraged the athlete to take up indoor running last season, was determined to remain positive. "Kelly's chance will come again," said Jennings. "She wanted this opportunity to be the one which would win her gold."

"She's put a lot of effort into this year. She always does. But this was to be something special."

Kelly gets Olympic 800m qualifying mark

Kelly Holmes insists she will use the 800 metres as a "back-up" event at the Olympics, despite her impressive win in Spain on Saturday.

The 34-year-old is convinced she can make a stronger challenge for the 1500m gold medal in Athens.

"The 1500m remains my top priority," said Holmes, who is currently fourth in this year's world rankings.

"The 800m is purely a back-up in case anything goes really wrong - and as you know, these things do happen." 

She admitted afterwards that she was pleased to have become the only British woman to better the Olympic qualifying standard of two minutes this summer as she beat Morocco's Hasna Benhassi.

"It was a definite bonus. I felt good and I was really comfortable racing against some very experienced 800m women.

London Grand Prix, Crystal Palace

Kelly Holmes thrilled the packed crowd at the Norwich Union London Grand Prix at Crystal Palace on Friday night 30 July as some of the world’s greatest athletes honed their skills ahead of the Olympic Games in Athens.

Kelly Holmes (Ealing, Southall and Middlesex AC) raised the roof of the renovated Palace a little further by storming home 10m clear in the 1500m only five days after her equally emphatic 800m victory at the Norwich Union International in Birmingham. After remaining content to sit in the pack until the bell (3:03), she burst past long-time leader Jennifer Toomey (USA) and strode away powerfully to win in 4:04.07.

"I really needed that race. I've been very indecisive lately and I needed to run over 1500 metres again. This has given me a lot of confidence. My coach has flown over from America today and I think I need to sit down with her over the next couple of days to decide whether to double up or not. The crowd here today was fantastic as usual. They always give me a lift. You always try to raise your game for your home crowd.  

“Everyone is telling me that I should double up because I've been running so well lately, but both my last two races have been in the UK and you always raise your game in your own country. To double up, you have to feel right inside and I still haven't quite got that feeling yet. I will weigh up what's best for me and make a decision in the next couple of days. I have to get it right as this is my last Olympics."  

Kelly Holmes (Ealing, Southall and Middlesex AC) finished second in the Women’s 1500m in 4:03.48, 0.41sec behind Wioletta Janowska (Poland) Games at the Weltklasse IAAF Golden League meeting in Zurich, Switzerland, on Friday night, 6 August.  

Holmes, entered for both the 800m and 1500m in Athens, was always to the fore after her impressive victories at the Norwich Union International at Birmingham and the Norwich Union London Grand Prix at Crystal Palace. 

Holmes was in the lead at the bell, and her and Janowska pulled away on the last lap.

Holmes, who was passed by Janowska in the last 30m, said afterwards: “I was in the lead for quite a way; I needed to be more positive and that’s what I did but the result’s the result.”

Well aware of the global interest in whether she will double-up or concentrate on either the 800m or 1500m at the Games, she added: “I don’t have to decide yet. I have got two weeks’ hard training to fit in and I want to make the right choice.”

Athens Olympics 2004

Pre-race: Athens: Britain's Kelly Holmes has confirmed she will run the 1500m at the Olympic Games, although she remains undecided whether to compete in the 800m as well.

Holmes, who won bronze in the 800m at Sydney 2000, said at the start of the season that the 1500m was her priority.

"What to do at the Olympics? The 1500m or the double," she told the Evening Standard newspaper.

"I don't have to say whether or not I'll do the 800m until a day before the heats, which begin a week on Friday."

"I'm now in the positive frame of mind that tells me that if I carry on training the way I have been, the decision will take care of itself," added the 34-year-old.

"I feel I am running well enough to reach the final in both events so if it is a dilemma, it is a happy dilemma.

"The quandary boils down to this. I could hope to win a medal in the 800m, but won't know how much it will take out of me.

"Could it ruin my chances in the 1500m? Or I could just go for the 1500m and then regret afterwards that I didn't go in for the 800m? You don't want to live with regrets." 

800m

Kelly Holmes lived her dream last night by winning the Olympic Games 800m title.

Hanging off the fast early pace the 34-year-old carved her way through the field to deliver Britain’s first woman’s track gold since Sally Gunnell won the 400m hurdles in 1992 and the first 800m victory for a woman since Ann Packer in 1964.

“This is my dream come true, one that I’ve been working towards for all my career,” said Holmes. “I just can’t believe it, I have been waiting for this all my life.”

In a desperate finish down the home straight Holmes was locked in battle with Maria Mutola, the defending champion from Sydney.

With the line approaching Holmes seemed to edge ahead but then on the outside Moroccan Hasna Benhassi, Russian Tatyana Andrianova and Jolanda Ceplak mounted a furious last-ditch finish so that all four almost crossed the line together.

Holmes got the verdict in 1mins 56.38secs with Benhassi five hundredths of a second behind for second place and Ceplak third in the same time of 1:56.43.

“When I crossed the line I thought I had won but I was not sure and thought, well maybe I haven’t,” added Holmes. “Everyone was there looking at the screen and then someone shouted from the sidelines that I had won and I couldn’t believe it. It is a dream come true.”

Holmes confesses to checking the replay twice to make sure she had won, before savouring her moment on the podium

Afterwards Holmes revealed that it was a very tough decision whether to run the 800m.

 “I only made my mind up the night before the heats of the 800m so it was a pretty late decision!” said Holmes. “I decided to give it a go because my training had been going so well. I knew it was going to be a risk whatever I decided to do.”

It was not the only decision she got right. Holmes hung off the fast early pace set by American Jearl Clark Miles and at the bell, reached in 56.37secs, was in last place and 20 metres behind the leader.

 “My race plan was to hold back and then give it everything in the last 150m,” said Holmes. “I knew it would be fast but I have more strength than speed so I had to take the risk and hang back. When I decided to go with 150m remaining I just had to go.

“I knew the last 150 would be flat out and when I decided to give it my shot I had to go regardless of what happened and then hold on for dear life. That line was coming and coming and my legs were starting to go. I was holding on for dear life.”

Afterwards Holmes also paid tribute to her UK Athletics physio Alison Rose.

“This is the first year I have not been injured,” she added. “I have never been able to maximize my potential before and that has made a huge difference.”

Jo Pavey added “I was thrilled to see Kelly win as she is a very good friend of mine. It gave me a real boost before the 5000m.”

1500m

1500m final

Britain's Kelly Holmes has won her second gold medal at the Olympics, this time storming to victory in the 1500m. Running with supreme confidence, she again stormed through the pack to claim gold after lying eighth out of 12 at the bell.

The double champion, who took 800m gold on Monday, finished three metres clear of Russia's Tatyana Tomashova.

Once again Holmes ran a brilliant tactical race, hanging to back for the first few laps then sprinting the final straight with style.

  She's the first British athlete for 84 years to achieve the Olympic middle-distance double. The only other Briton to manage the feat was Albert Hill in Antwerp in 1920. The only other women to do it were in 1976 and 1996, but from Russia.  

"I can't believe it - I'm gobsmacked," said Holmes, who broke her own 7-year-old British record with 3 minutes 57.90 seconds in the race. 

 

1500m qualifying

Kelly Holmes' mother,  Pam Thomson watched her daughter take gold in the women's 1500m final to make Olympic history in the Athens stadium. 

Speaking after watching her daughter's triumph Ms Thomson said her daughter's finish "was just breathtaking".

"Words simply are not enough at a time like this," she said.

"Kelly has had a lot of downs in her career and has always thought that something will go wrong when she's at the top. But tonight was her night and she was just amazing."

She said her daughter had "never dreamed" of gaining a second gold medal.

"I just couldn't believe my eyes as she started to move up in the field and then to finish in the way she did was just breathtaking," she said.

"She's going to have to go through a lot of attention and publicity so we will see how she settles down but for now everyone is just so pleased for her."

Ms Thomson could not travel to watch her daughter in Athens because she has not got a passport. 

Kelly Holmes has admitted the pressure of going for a golden double was almost unbearable, after accomplishing an Olympic feat which, just a week ago, was beyond her wildest dreams.

Holmes was so exhausted from the effort of adding the 1500m crown to her 800m title that she had to have treatment from a doctor before she could do any post-race interviews.

The last and only time a Briton achieved the middle-distance double was when Albert Hill triumphed in Antwerp 84 years ago.

Holmes revealed that the shock of winning a surprise first gold medal on Monday had made it almost impossible to summon up the will to complete the second stage of her mission.

"It feels like I'm going to wake up in the morning and have to do it all over again," said Holmes.

"The hardest thing was focusing on the race and pretending that I hadn't already won one.

"I have been looking at the gold medal every day and tears have been filling my eyes. I was thinking 'oh my god, I've already got one gold medal and I just want this over and done with. I just wanted to celebrate but I'd focused so much on getting another one."

Holmes brought the crowd in the Olympic stadium to its feet with a superb late surge to take gold in a new British record time of three minutes 57.9 seconds.

She choked back the tears as she stood on the top of the podium for the second time in six days, one Union Jack wrapped around her shoulders and another wrapped round her waist.

In the space of a week, she had gone from talented but injury-jinxed middle distance runner to track legend.

"If you had told me I had to run that time to win a medal I wouldn't have turned up," she said.

"The 1500m has been a psychological barrier for me. I knew I was stronger than I've ever been, but it's what goes on in your head that counts.

"I knew when I won the 800m that I had to be as confident as possible and that this would be my only chance to do what I have done."

Holmes admitted she was stunned that her name would now go down alongside other British greats like Sebastian Coe, Steve Ovett and Steve Cram. "Sebastian Coe was my idol for years," said Holmes, who received her 800m gold from Lord Coe on Monday. "I always remember seeing him win Olympic silver in the 800m and then coming back to win the 1500m. He was an inspiration when I was younger and to be mentioned in the same breath as him is unbelievable. I don't think I'm coming to terms with it at the moment."

As Holmes struggled to take it all in, her night got even better. Glancing over at the television in the press conference room, she saw that Britain's sprinters had won a shock gold in the 4x100m relay. A huge smile broke out across her face. After so many years of hurt, things have finally come good for Kelly Holmes.

Double Olympic gold medallist Kelly Holmes has no plans to retire following her memorable exploits in Athens.

The 34-year-old, who added 1500m gold to her 800m triumph on Saturday, hopes to continue her winning form. "I don't plan to retire," she said. "I'm in the best shape of my life. I would still like an indoors title but I have got my dream twice over.

"The most important thing now is to enjoy my sport and appreciate all the things it gives me."

Holmes was given the honour of carrying the flag for Great Britain at Sunday's closing ceremony.

British Olympic chief Simon Clegg paid tribute to her achievement. "It is unbelievable," he said. "I think she has run two perfect races and that is why I asked her to carry the flag at the closing ceremony."

Holmes, 34, has admitted the dream of future Olympic glory stopped her quitting the sport two years ago. "I could have given up. I had depression, everything. But I felt in my heart one day it might happen," Holmes said. "This is my life, what I've dreamt of forever. No one can ever take it away. I will always be Olympic champion."

Holmes, who became only the seventh British athlete to win two golds at one Olympic Games by adding the 1500m crown to her 800m triumph, admitted her career had now peaked.

"I still have a few races to do this season, which is going to be pretty tough," she said. 

"The main thing is that I think I can enjoy the rest of my career. Now I've got more than my dream come true. Whatever happens now, I don't really care. Nothing I do in my life will make me as happy as I am now."

If she extends her career into next season, Holmes could go for more gold at the World Championships in Helsinki.

The 34-year-old has suffered an agonising series of near misses in her career, with bad luck and injury blighting her progress. Holmes was pipped to gold in the 1500m at the 1995 World Championship, and squeezed out of the medals with fourth in the 800m at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Injury ruined her bid for the 1997 World Championship 1500m, and many wondered if her best chance of a global title had gone as bronze in the 800m in the Sydney Olympics was followed by silver in the same event in the 2003 Worlds.

"All the ups and downs I've had, I think they've made me the athlete I am," Holmes said. "It made me stronger. I've had every single emotion an athlete can have."

"Everything I've ever dreamed of has come true."

Holmes said good preparation for Athens in the pre-Games training camp in Cyprus had given her the confidence to go for the 1500m and 800m double.

"I thought I've got to give it a go, because I don't want to live with regrets," she said. "If I'd done the 1500m and something went wrong and I didn't do the 800m I'd be gutted. I figured it was a bigger risk."

Kelly Holmes' double gold in the 800m and 1500m has been hailed as one of the greatest achievements in Olympic history.

Holmes set a new British record and ended up as the only Team GB athlete to claim individual track and field gold.

But she did more than merely save her under-performing team-mates' blushes and more than simply fulfil a personal Olympic dream. In doing the 800m-1500m double, the 34-year-old from Tonbridge achieved a rare Olympic feat.

Olympic middle-distance great Sebastian Coe, who was Holmes' idol growing up, described her achievement as "phenomenal". Lord Coe, who himself won 1500m Olympic gold but was unable to clinch the double, said: "A lot of people have tried it, few people have done it. In historic terms and athletic terms, what Kelly did was supreme."

Another former British runner convinced of the magnitude of Holmes' accomplishment is former Olympic 10,000m bronze medallist Brendan Foster. The BBC pundit's emotional commentary as Holmes sank to her knees after clinching victory in the 1500m left viewers in no doubt as to how high he ranked her achievement. "Britain's first ever gold medal in the Olympic Games was in the 1500m and now (this is) our most glorious moment in athletics history as far as I can see," he said. "She is the double Olympic champion - we've never had one like you before. The last British athlete that came close to it was Sebastian Coe and he ended up as Lord Coe. Surely we going to call her Dame Kelly Holmes after that performance."

The statistics show the enormity of Holmes' achievement: 

·  Only two other women have achieved the 800m-1500m double in the history of the Olympic Games.

·  Just two other athletes of any nationality have done the 800m-1500m double in modern times - New Zealand's Peter Snell in 1964 and Svetlana Masterkova of Russia in 1996.

·  A mere six other British female track and field athletes have won Olympic gold - none had won more than one.

·  Only six other British competitors have won two or more golds at the same Olympics - and only one since 1920.

·  Holmes is the first Briton to win both Olympic middle distance events for 84 years, when Albert Hill won both in Antwerp in 1920.

After her victory in the 800m, an open-top bus parade around her home town of Tonbridge was planned - now that looks likely to be scaled up into a national party.

Not only did Holmes make a mockery of the odds, she now finds herself odds-on for a host of other things - from winning the BBC Sports Personality of the Year to getting a gong in the New Year's Honours list.

Her life will be changed with monumental fame and lucrative financial opportunities there for the grasping. But what will surely be most precious to her is the place that her Athens performances have earned her in the pantheon of Olympic greats.

Olympic heroine Kelly Holmes was welcomed back to her home town with a surprise party at her local pub.

After landing at Gatwick with the rest of Great Britain's Olympic stars, she was whisked off to the Hilden Manor pub, in the Kent town of Hildenborough.

Holmes won the 800m and 1500m in Athens, becoming one of the stars of the games, which closed on Sunday.

She said it was nice to be with people she had known for years and who had been through ups and downs with her.

After her second triumph on Saturday she admitted she was struggling to come to terms with the enormity of what she had achieved.

She probably had more idea after she was asked to carry the British flag at the closing ceremony and when thousands of fans were at Gatwick to welcome Holmes and her fellow stars back from Athens on Monday.

And friends and family crammed into the Hilden Manor to congratulate her at Monday night's private party.

She told the BBC: "This is really nice because it's all my close family and friends and people I've known for absolutely years.

"So it's really important for me because these are the people it all started off with and who have followed me through the ups and downs of being Kelly Holmes and being an athlete."

Her mother Pam Thomson met her daughter at the airport and at the party said: "Now that everything has gone right for her and she's won two gold medals you just think 'well, what happens now then?'

"It's just a really peculiar feeling - but a lovely one."

Holmes' grandfather, Geoff Norris, said: "We knew she'd make it in the end, she had to this year, it's her final year for the Olympics, so it had to be.

"But we knew it would happen - we were that confident."

The double champion will get another rousing reception on Wednesday afternoon - when she takes part in an open-to bus parade through Hildenborough and nearby Tonbridge, expected to attract huge crowds.

Holmes travelled in an open top bus from her home in Hildenborough, Kent, on a route to Tonbridge High Street, which she used to run as a child.

The din of klaxons, whistles and screams on Tonbridge's high street was ear-splitting as the crowds waited for her open-top bus to appear. Many of the thousands thronging the Kent town had waited hours to catch a glimpse of their new hero. Children wearing union flag dresses waved banners they had made at home. Meanwhile eager supporters hung out of windows, stood on roofs and packed the pavements under red, white and blue bunting - transforming what is normally a quiet market town.

Her former coach Dave Arnold - who guided Holmes from the age of 12 to two years ago - was at hand to see her homecoming.

He said: "Tens of thousands of people must have been there cheering and waving. I've found it such an uplifting experience just to be there.

"Kelly will be amazed by this - this is her chance to show her achievements to her town."

Judging by the queue snaking hundreds of yards from the marquee where the athlete signed autographs, her fans were only too proud to say she was one of theirs.

The words on everyone's lips were "we've never seen anything like this".

And unless a double-Olympic champion comes home to Tonbridge again, a party on this scale seems unlikely to be repeated in anyone's lifetime.

Holmes said she was overwhelmed by the support for her at the event. Speaking to the crowds at Tonbridge Castle, Holmes said: "This has been a long journey for me,

"It has taken me 20 years to achieve my dream - not once but twice.

"I have always had this burning desire to be Olympic champion.

"Through all the low points I just kept fighting and this now has made up for every single thing that has happened to me.

"I am overwhelmed - I thought it was bad enough being in an Olympic stadium with 60,000 people, but I heard about 40,000 people turned up today and that is unbelievable.

"I will never, ever forget this for as long as I live."

Jonathan Welbon, from Tonbridge Athletics Club, where Holmes first started training two decades ago said: "We are delighted.

"It has put a real buzz into the club. All the athletes and all the residents of Tonbridge and Hildenborough I am sure are delighted.

"There is nothing better than this and it really will carry us forward as a club for generations to come.

"It will, I am sure, bring lots more athletes down to our track."

BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2004

Holmes caps her golden year

TEARS bubbling in her eyes, Kelly Holmes was crowned the BBC Sports Personality of the Year on Sunday and thanked the three coaches who played their part in her journey into Olympic immortality.

Holmes, 34, followed Paula Radcliffe in 2002 by lifting one of the most prestigious trophies in British sport, glorious reward for her amazing summer where she won the 800m and 1500m double at the Olympic Games in Athens.

Holmes praised Dave Arnold, Wes Duncan and Margo Jennings for the role they played.

Arnold, her former coach, even sent her text messages during the Olympics to offer advice; Duncan encouraged her to keep on running despite the competitive break she had in her career while in the military; while Jennings has been her advisor for the last two years of her career.

But Holmes has no intention to quit and said after the event: "I still want to continue to run next year. I haven't decided on what events I'll run, whether outdoor or indoor. It depends on my fitness levels. I'll go in for events I know I can win."

She beat Matthew Pinsent, Britain's gold medal rowing star, who was second, and cricketer Andrew Flintoff, who was third, to the title after viewers voted from five nominees. The other two were footballer Wayne Rooney and Olympic boxing silver medallist Amir Khan.

"I probably sat there more nervous all night than I was at the 1500m in Athens," said Holmes. "I was very nervous because I was more worried that everyone thought I was going to win and so they wouldn't vote.

"On the track, I'm in control but I wasn't in control of what happened here, it was down to the British public - I can never thank them enough."

Not since Albert Hill, in Antwerp in 1920, had a Briton won the middle distance double at the Olympics.

She added: "I don't know where I'm going from here. All I wanted was to be a PT instructor in the army and be Olympic champion - and now I've done both. At the end of the day I'll never have the same drive but I'll continue running next year because I can."