Sports story by Gareth Bowman, Wed, 07 Dec 2005 08:08:00 GMT


Dame Kelly Holmes has decided to retire and devote time towards mentoring with a camp known as 'On Camp with Kelly' to unearth a potential gold medallist for Olympics 2012 in England.

Kelly, unarguably one of the best Olympians to represent Britain in athletics, wowed the country with a double gold medal triumph at the Athens Olympics.

Holmes had earlier suggested that she would retire after the Commonwealth Games next year in Melbourne. But she said that the death of a 35 year old friend and former army sergeant had disturbed her psychologically. The Kent runner also said that she had no injury problems adding that she was “fit and running”. She said: “I have never run away from an injury before. Why would I start now?”

Speaking about the expiry of Tim O'Brien, a man she befriended while undergoing physiotherapy with Gerard Hartmann in Ireland, she said: “I went for lunch with him and talked about life in general and had a good old chat. He said he didn't feel well that day after falling over while playing tennis.” She flew to South Africa the next day when Gerard sent her a message saying that Tim was serious and had only four weeks to live. She said: “It just totally shook me up and started making me think about my future. I had to make sure I had other reasons for not being in athletics any more.”

She also said that she no longer had the motivation to participate in Commonwealth Games as she had won two golds and a silver medal there.

Holmes was dogged by a series of injuries, which made her critics sceptical of her being able to achieve more than modest success. But in 2004, she proved them all wrong by bagging a double at the Olympics.

On her mentoring, she said: “I don't think I'll be a coach, but I like being a mentor. I'll give as much advice as I can.” She added: “I am very passionate to see these girls grow. I have been with them for a year and a half now and have seen remarkable changes.”

Meanwhile, Holmes has been invited to be come a senior ambassador by the International Association of Athletics Federations, who feel she can be a role model to many a sportswomen.

"I think Kelly Holmes is one of the legends of our sport now,” siad IAAF president Lamine Diack.

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