LONDON, 23 April 2005 — Double Olympic champion Kelly Holmes, whose career was an ultimate triumph of perseverance over adversity, has decided to conclude her international career at the age of 35. Admitting to a lack of motivation after winning the 800-1,500 double at last August’s Athens Olympics, Holmes will make her British farewell at the Sheffield grand prix on Aug. 21. She hopes to compete at the Helsinki world championships earlier in the same month and may run at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne next February.
“If you look at my career, I’ve won 13 medals from Commonwealth Games, world championships, Europeans and Olympic Games so I’ve got nothing to prove to myself or anybody else,” Holmes told the BBC.
“I’ve achieved my dreams so now I’m in a position to say, ‘well I can do what I want’.”
Helsinki, which staged the first world championships in 1983, would provide an ideal stage for Holmes to finish in style. She won a silver medal in the Finnish capital at the 1994 European championships and was a consistent performer at the highest level without managing to win a global title until the Athens Games.
An athlete with less determination than the former British Army sergeant would have given up long ago.
Once asked to describe her injuries, Holmes drew a deep breath and said: “Let’s see — hips, femoral nerve, calcification of the hip bone, lower leg problems, shin problems, calf injury.” Before the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Holmes did not race at all from February to August but still managed to pick up a bronze in the 800 meters.
