The Voice of British Fitness

Dame Kelly Holmes is one of Britain’s greatest sports stars. She is also one of the few who are more than the sum of their sporting parts; someone making waves in the wider society for all the right reasons. I caught up with her.

Much slighter in real life than you might imagine, for when you see Kelly tearing to victory in the home straights on a race track, her muscled physique emphasised by her low body fat percentage, you believe that she must stand much taller than just over five feet. But despite her diminutive size, the double Olympic champion has a large presence and the kind of confidence that creates an illusion of filling more space than you occupy.

Her previous career in the army may have something to do with it. She was a physical training instructor who was no doubt taught to project herself to gain the attention of a group of rough ‘squadies.’ I wanted to talk to her about being seen as the UK’s ‘voice of fitness,’ and if this was really something she aspired to before bagging the double gold.

“Well, I don’t know if I am the promoter for fitness in the UK,” she says, coyly. “But events have sort of been taking me along those lines.” Kelly was the ‘national school’s sport champion’ on behalf of government. “When I started the role,” she continued, “it was all about getting more young people to do physical education and sport. We managed to get £100 million pounds out of the government to put into schools, and doubled the amount of physical activity young people do from two to five hours a week.”

The country’s national obesity problems have in part stemmed from a generation who have let sport and physical activity pass them by, she explained, a fact she attributes to youngsters “hating the school sport experience,” because of the way PE is taught and the low priority given to it. What would she do, money no object, to improve the health of the nation?

“I would bring together the health and sports sectors, she tells me, flatly. The health department still has to make the correlation between health and sports, and see fitness participation as a means to reduce illness and disease. They’re divided. Until they pair up, we are still going to have major problems.”

I suggested that the government may have been a bit lazy at best in its attitude to fitness (with around 80% of the UK’s population never taking any regular health improving exercise or sports activities). Isn’t it a little bit too late to sort all that out out now?

Kelly laughs. “Well, you know, it’s never too late. You just have to do it. The London 2012 Olympics is only round the corner. Now the pressure is mounting. We’ve got this time-line that everyone is focussing on. We should be getting people active now. Not next year or by 2012. That’s not the right approach.”

There again was the obvious passion, a desire on her part to make change immediate, to persuade us of the need to take action now that will benefit all our lives in the not too distant future. Doctors and GP’s can obviously do a great deal to improve the nation’s health, I offer up.

“Yes, they can,” she says. “They need to promote the correlation between being active and being healthy, and seeing prevention (though fitness activity) as the best medicine, rather than reacting via treatment later, when in many ways it’s too late by then. It’s not rocket science, really, is it?”

“…I’d always push myself to the limit sometimes to my detriment,” was a quote that I remembered from her from somewhere. I asked Kelly what was the hardest fitness challenge she has ever had to endure, and am initially surprised by her reply. “Passing my selection for the army physical training instructor’s course. Doing log runs, and rope climbs, all in your boots. The dips and the gymnastics, and everything. You know physically, that’s probably the hardest thing that I have ever had to do.”

“Athletically, everything was tough--doing hill work, doing speed endurance work on the track. I’d push myself to the limit sometimes to my detriment, yes.” Yes, indeed, Kelly Holmes’ career has been bedevilled by injuries, notably, to her Achilles tendons. She talked at length about the hundreds of hours of rehabilitation, the cross training sessions, aqua jogging in pools, cycling, and circuit training, all this just to maintain fitness.

Surely, since retirement, she’s done with pushing her mind and body onto new challenges? Again, I am surprised by her response. But I begin to see a tenacity to apply herself to rigid discipline. “I always like to set myself challenges,” she says. “I did Superstars on TV, rock climbing, kayaking, judo. There’s still a little bit left in the old body.”

Then a rush of pride consumes me. “Wasn’t it your magazine that used to do the X-Training Challenge? she asked. That sort of thing was brilliant. Now that I’m retired, I would have gone for that. That would have given me a challenge.”

I laugh with pride, and grin back at her, “Well, Dame Kelly Holmes, we’ll start it again just for you.” Kelly smiles, too. Our double-gold medallist must be used to people doing things especially for her these days. The smile is warm and genuine, but through it all, you can see a real mental toughness. Where does this come from I wanted to know.

“I’ve always believed that I could get there,” she tells me. “And I believed that I could do something with my life. My career in the army played a significant role. In terms of my track success, I think 80% of performance is what happens up here.” Kelly pointed to her head. “The one that’s going to win is the one that’s got it up here, and believes that they can win.”

We turn to the subject of her ‘On Camp’ pet project and why she’s mentoring young athletes: Are the current crop of track and field stars as mentally tough as their predecessors who had to work, study, and train with little support? She gave a wry smile and considered the answer for a moment.

“To be honest, no,” she said. Over the years in sport, the key people that have really achieved, like Steve Backley, Colin Jackson, and Steve Redgrave, they did not have this support system. They did it because they wanted to do it. And they kept going on even though there was no one there to pick you up, if things went wrong. Nowadays, with all the assistance athletes can get, they can be wrapped in cotton wool, and that can reduce the fight. I think they know that. But I always talk to them about being respectful, disciplined, and working hard. They also have to be ‘nice people.’”

So, would she accept a 1.54min 800m female athlete who was ‘not so nice’? A world beater in other words? Her answer, no doubt, reflects her integrity. “No, I probably wouldn’t,” she said. At the end of the day, you always come back down. If you burn your bridges on the way up, they won’t be there to catch you, on the way down. For me, it’s not about making 10 Olympic Champions.”

Kelly’s fitness tips:

Set yourself a goal and realistic targets and know how you are going to achieve it.

Know that it is going to be tough and that there is no easy way of getting there, or quick fix.

Know what you are trying to achieve and stick with it.

Do things with other people and make it enjoyable.

Do a couple of activities to add variety and keep you motivated – unless you are training for a specific challenge.

Find an event -- there are always races and fitness competitions you can do -- it doesn’t matter how good or bad you are.

Dame Kelly Holmes mentors up-and-coming athletes through her ‘On Camp with Kelly’ scheme (supported by Aviva). For more info visit the website: www.oncampwithkelly.co.uk.