Kelly Holmes

Kelly Holmes

Holmes at the 2004 Olympics

nation

United Kingdom

birthday

April 19, 1970

place of birth

Pembury

size

163 cm

Weight

55 kg

Career

discipline

Middle distance run

status

resigned

End of career

2005

Medal table

Olympic games	2 ×	0 ×	1 ×
World championships	0 ×	2 ×	1 ×
European championships	0 ×	1 ×	1 ×
Indoor World Cup	0 ×	1 ×	1 ×
Commonwealth Games	2 ×	1 ×	0 ×

Olympic games
bronze	Sydney 2000	800 m
gold	Athens 2004	800 m
gold	Athens 2004	1500 m
World championships
silver	Gothenburg 1995	1500 m
bronze	Gothenburg 1995	800 m
silver	Paris 2003	800 m
European championships
silver	Helsinki 1994	1500 m
bronze	Munich 2002	800 m
Indoor world championships
silver	Birmingham 2003	1500 m
Commonwealth Games
gold	Victoria 1994	1500 m
silver	Kuala Lumpur 1998	1500 m
gold	Manchester 2002	1500 m

Dame Kelly Holmes , DBE (born April 19, 1970 in Pembury , Kent ) is a former British middle-distance runner and two-time Olympic champion .

biography

Holmes celebrated her first success at the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria, where she won the 1500 meter race . in the same year she won silver over the same distance at the European Athletics Championships in Helsinki . At the 1995 World Championships in Gothenburg, she won bronze over 800 meters . In 1996 and 1997 she had bad luck with injuries; she suffered a stress fracture and a ruptured Achilles tendon . Holmes won the silver medal over 1500 meters at the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur.

At the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney she was third behind Maria de Lurdes Mutola and Stephanie Graf over 800 meters . 2002 was also a successful year: at the European Championships in Munich she was third in the 800 meters, and at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester she won the 1,500 meter race. In 2003 she came second twice; over 800 meters at the World Athletics Championships in Paris / Saint-Denis and at the World Indoor Championships in Birmingham over 1500 meters.

She celebrated her greatest success at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, where she won the 800-meter race ahead of Hasna Benhassi and Jolanda Čeplak . Her training partner, the so far superior Maria Mutola, was only fourth. The first three were only separated by five hundredths of a second. A few days later, Holmes won again and became Olympic champion over 1500 meters. In the same year she was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year , Sportsman of the Year in Great Britain. After persistent injuries to the Achilles tendon, she ended her career in early December 2005.

Kelly Holmes had a competition weight of 55 kg with a height of 1.63 m. In addition to her work as an athlete, Holmes was also a sports coach in the British Army. Despite many breaks due to injuries, she is considered the most successful British middle-distance runner of all time. On January 1, 2005, Kelly Holmes was ennobled by Queen Elizabeth II as Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) . On April 12, 2005, Holmes was the godmother of the then largest British cruise ship, the Arcadia . In the same year she was named World Sportswoman of the Year .

The University of Greenwich awarded her an honorary doctorate in 2006 . In the same year she took part in the first season of the figure skating show Dancing on Ice .