This morning the subject came up in our house of who our greatest ever sportswoman was or is. It came up because yesterday I was watching Wimbledon with Mrs Cryptogee, and I was telling her about how Serena Williams won the Australian Open whilst pregnant. Making her the only woman in history to win a grand-slam title whilst carrying a baby.

This prompted her to look up how old her baby was, and she was amazed to find out that the little baba is less than a year old, yet her mum is playing top level professional tennis.

So Mrs Cryptogee said that Serena Williams had become her favourite sportswoman of all time, seeing as after the birth of Minigee she was mainly hanging out with other mums in maternity jeans and eating cake and drinking tea.

She asked me who my favourite sportswoman was and without pausing for breath I told her Kelly Holmes; or to give her her full title, Dame Kelly Holmes.

For me Kelly embodies all that is great about athletics and life, and if I'm being honest I find it difficult to think about her achievements without getting emotional. We come from similar backgrounds, though I would have to say she has been through much more hardship than I have, and obviously achieved more in the sporting world than I could even ever dream of.

The Mark Of A Champion

Dame Kelly was born in 1970 in the Southeast of England to a single, white mother; back in those days it was not easy for single mums full stop, let alone those with mixed race babies.

Kelly never knew her father and came to accept her stepdad as her one and only real father. She tells how she was in and out of foster homes at an early age, but due to that tender age it not fazing her.

She began her interest in athletics at the age of twelve, but turned her back on the sport to go into the army at the age of 18, where she became a judo champion, a fitness expert and an 800 metre runner.

It is documented that she once ran in a men's 800 metre race in the army so as not to embarrass the other female competitors when she obliterated them!

Back In Civvy Street

After leaving the army in 1992 she was watching the Barcelona Olympics where she saw a woman named Lisa York that she had beaten in her earlier life competing for a medal.

This inspired her to take up athletics again and so began her career. However it was not plain sailing and it is the hardship she suffered and overcame that make her my favourite sportswoman of all time.

First Olympics

Just one year after she went back to athletics she won gold at the 1993 Commonwealth Games and had won gold in the European Cup in 1995. However her injury problems started to plague her and she always felt that she was never 100% when competing at the top events.

Her first Olympics were the summer games in 1996 held in Atlanta, USA where she narrowly missed out on the medals coming 4th in the 800m and a disappointing 11th in the 1500 metres.

This was to start the period of agonising losses, injuries and depression for Kelly, most of which she kept secret till the end of her career.

Depression

In 2003 while training for what would be her last Olympics and her career defining moment, she suffered an horrific leg injury which threatened to ruin her last chance of Olympic glory.

She reports suffering horrible depression which she coped with by meditating and self-harming. She said that she would add a cut to herself for each injury that she had had over the years.

Being a professional athlete meant that she couldn't take anti-depressants for fear that they would effect her performance, and for the fact that some of them contain substances that are banned in international athletics.

So Kelly did the only thing she knew how to do, she battled through the pain on her own.

At Last, At Last, I Am A Champion!

Those were the words that rang out in the commentary booth as Dame Kelly Holmes completed double gold at her fourth and final games; the 2004 Athens Olympics. She triumphed in the 800 and 1500 metres battling through her pain and injury woes. So perhaps it was fitting that her story should end where the one of the Olympic Games first began.

Watching her triumph then and now when I watch it on Youtube brings more than a tear to my eye. For me it is symbolic for how you must fight on, even when life is beating you down, even when everyone around you says that you cannot do it.

She symbolises all that is great and good in not just athletics, but in life. Dame Kelly Holmes you are my hero, and the fact that you are trying to inspire other girls and boys through your foundation just makes me love you even more.

Dame Kelly Holmes, I salute you and will always admire and respect you!

Note: the video quality below is terrible, however they have the commentary which is far better than the awful music to the HD versions of these races.

Athens 2004 Olympic Games Women's 800m Final

Athens 2004 Olympic Games Women's 1500m Final

Further Reading:

Kelly Holmes: My family values - Guardian

Kelly Holmes on self-harm, suicide thoughts and her 'sperm donor' dad - Daily Mirror

Kelly Holmes - Wiki

WHO FROM THE WORLD OF SPORTS DO YOU ADMIRE? WHAT ACHIEVEMENTS MAKE YOU WELL UP INSIDE? AS EVER, LET ME KNOW BELOW!

Title Image: Charles Deluvio 🇵🇭🇨🇦 on Unsplash

Cryptogee