Dame Kelly Holmes

Dame Kelly Holmes is one of England’s best female athletes of all time. With two Commonwealth gold medals and one silver under her belt from the Games of 1994, 1998 and 2002 Kelly went on to become the first woman ever to win two Olympic gold medals at the same Games at the Olympics in Athens 2004; setting a British record in the 1500M at the same time.

Born on 19 April 1970 in Pembury, Kent , Kelly has a long and distinguished athletics career stretching from 1993-2005. Kelly started running when she was 12 years old after being encouraged by her school PE teacher. She first graced the podium in 1994 when she won both a Commonwealth Gold medal in the 1500m and a European Silver medal.

In 1995 she took both a silver medal and a bronze at the World Championships claiming British records the same year. Another medal followed in the Commonwealth Games of 1998 when she won silver in the 1500m in Kuala Lumpur before she won her first Olympic medal a bronze in the 800m in Sydney in 2000. 2002 in Manchester brought another Commonwealth gold in the 1500m in front of a home crowd as well as bronze in the 800m at the European Championships. Two silvers followed in 2003 at World indoor 1500m and World outdoor 800m Championships - the perfect preparation to go to Athens in 2004 and claim the ultimate prize – double gold.

Since the 2004 Games Kelly has achieved many accolades. Following her success in Athens Holmes was honoured with a Damehood by the Queen in the New Year's Honours of 2005 and was awarded the Laureus World Sports Woman of the Year Award in the same year. Having achieved success beyond her dreams she has retired from competitive sport and works in a range of activities to help others to fulfil their potential.

In 2006 she was named National School Sport Champion, a role aimed at motivating and inspiring youngsters into physical education and activities. She is the founder and director of "On Camp with Kelly" supported by Aviva which she conceived in 2004 to mentor and educate the next generation of female middle distance runners; and she is the founder and chair of the Dame Kelly Holmes Legacy Trust a charity dedicated to harnessing the talents of retiring sporting champions to make a difference to others, in sport, education and the wider community.

In May 2009 Dame Kelly was appointed President of Commonwealth Games England. Following her appointment Kelly said that she had no doubt that the success she experienced in Manchester in 2002 was part of a crucial step towards gaining her double Olympic title in 2004.

“We need to recognise that [the Commonwealth Games] is a much needed platform and experience for those performers who will progress on to the bigger stage of the Olympics and we should support the team accordingly. If you look back through some of the top performers in the Commonwealth Games, it’s certainly an illustrious alumni…. Brendan Foster, Steve Cram, Daley Thompson, Sally Gunnell, Tessa Sanderson, Denise Lewis, Victoria Pendleton, Gaill Emms, Nathan Roberts, and of course ‘me’………the hall of fame list goes on and on!! “

Dame Kelly’s ambitions for the role include wanting people to be proud to be English and to have the same passion for our England Commonwealth Games athletes that we see for the English Football Team, with flags flying in every street and whole communities getting behind the English team. Dame Kelly will also play a role in helping to secure commercial funding for the Team in advance of the Delhi Games.