Kelly Holmes, who was born on April 19, 1970 in Pembury, Kent, started training for athletics at 12 years old. She was trained by David Arnold at the Tonbridge Athletics Club. By 1983, Kelly Holmes already won her first 1500-meters against athletes from other English schools. When Kelly turned 18, she took a break from athletics to join the British Army, where she became a physical training instructor. Aside from winning a British Army judo championship, Kelly also competed in the men’s 800 meters since the Army decided it wasn’t a fair match if Holmes competed against the women. During this time, Kelly Holmes also won a 3000-meter and an 800-meter relay race in one day.

In 1992, after seeing Lisa York win a 3,000-meter race at the Summer Olympics, Kelly Holmes decided to return to athletics, mainly because she has beaten York in the past. Since Holmes needed money, she kept her job in the army while participating in athletics until she finally saved enough money to become a full-pledged athlete in 1997.

Kelly Holmes spent most of 2003 training at a French camp to prepare for the 2004 Summer Olympics, but wasn’t able to compete due to several leg injuries. However, she had enough time to recover by August to participate at the Athens Olympics, where Holmes won the 800-meter race against Jolanda Ceplak and Maria de Lurder Mutola as well as the 1,500-meter race against World Champion Tatyana Tomashova. She made history by becoming the country’s first double-gold medalist in the same games and the first British female to win two Olympic gold medals as well as setting a new British record of 3 minutes and 57.90 seconds for the 1500-meter distance.

After making her country proud, Kelly Holmes was welcomed with a home-coming parade on September 1, 2004 with over 40,000 people celebrating her return through the streets of Tonbridge and Hildenborough. That same year, Kelly Holmes was awarded with the “BBC Sports Personality of the Year” award. Kelly had become a huge celebrity and was asked to join the annual British game show, “The Big Fat Quiz of the Year,” which was aired on December 28, 2004.

Since her big win at the Olympics, Kelly has helped train young athletes on the Norwich Union-sponsored program, “On Camp with Kelly.” In March 9, 2005, the Queen made Kelly Holmes a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire at the Buckingham Palace. She also won the “Sportswoman of the Year” award at the 2005 Laureus World Sports Award.

After suffering from a recurrent Achilles tendon injury, which led to an 8th place in the 800-meter race at the Norwich Union British Grand Prix in August 2005 and a death of a fried, Kelly Holmes announced her retirement from athletics in December 6, 2005, citing a lack of motivation to continue. From 2006 to 2008, Kelly made several appearances, including a gig on “Dancing on Ice,” a substitute sports news presenter for the BBC London News, a guest at the opening of the new sports centre at Ernest Bevin College and as captain of the Red Team on the TV show, “Five’s Superstars.”