The Hindu : Sport : Kelly Holmes: from boot camp to Olympic glory

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Saturday, Jan 20, 2007
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Kelly Holmes: from boot camp to Olympic glory

Special Correspondent

— Photo: Vivek Bendre

PERFECT ROLE MODEL: Dame Kelly Holmes poses with her Olympic medals.

MUMBAI: Kelly Holmes, one of the celebrity sportspersons invited for the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon 2007, can be a brand ambassador for athletics worldwide. The 36-year-old British middle-distance ace, honoured with a `Damehood' by the Queen last year, is one of those characters whose real-life experiences can inspire a generation.

"I have great respect for the common people who run marathons, because unlike elite athletes whose profession is to train and compete, the people experience all the hardships faced by marathoners during training without anything in return. The people feel the pain, face injuries but keep going just because of the love for sport."

Public participation is one of the highlights of SCMM, with organisers designing events for amateur citizens like Dream Run, Senior Citizens Run, Wheelchair Run and Corporate Challenge, apart from actual competitive, prize money events like the Full Marathon and Half Marathon for serious runners.

Life in the army

Dame Kelly Holmes, as this 2004 Athens Olympics 800m and 1500m gold medallist should be addressed, is an elite athlete herself whose training in the British army equipped her with qualities needed to excel on track and later on, succeed in life.

Kelly joined the armed forces before her 18th birthday, spent nine-and-half years and became a Sergeant. "I wanted to become a physical training instructor in the army, spent the early years driving trucks after the initial training all have to go through," said the British middle-distance ace, awarded an MBE in 1988 for services to the British Army, in a media briefing on Friday.

"The army gave me every element needed for success in athletics, like discipline, dedication, need to plan and go about systematically getting to objectives, respect for myself and respect for other people. Army training gave me an air of confidence, a little bit of aggression which is important in sport," she added.

Asked about the difficulty of gaining acceptance from male army colleagues, Holmes said: "I had to win a lot of respect. I am very small," said the diminutive Olympic champion, relating experiences working with men. "A group of 30 guys from the university, training to become officers, would not pay attention when I started physical training sessions as part of their course.

So I decided to put them through a three mile run over undulating course, started at the back and overtook each one, leaping ahead at the finish to beat the leading man at the gate."

Holmes, small-made but physically strong, made them train with ropes later. "I would climb the ropes, using the hands only. The men struggled, then I would climb down the ropes, again a struggle for them. From then on word passed and I did not have any problem for the rest of my army career," observed the Olympian, crediting the Athens 2004 success to minute preparation.

Paranoid

"I was paranoid about my body, would take care of the smallest niggles. Massages became a vital part of training, apart from blood tests to test haemoglobin count since I was anaemic. During the Olympics, ice baths played a very important part in recovery process.

"Four weeks before Athens, I sat down with my personal coach and worked out a schedule. When the Olympics arrived, I was ready," said Holmes, equalling Russia's Svetlana Masterkova's feat of a distance double at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

The Briton retired from competition in 2005 and now grooms promising junior girls as part of her project named `On Camp With Kelly'.

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