Double Olympic champion Kelly Holmes has announced her retirement from athletics.

Holmes wanted to bow out in style at next year's Commonwealth Games but has called time on her glorious career.

The 35-year-old former army sergeant revealed at a press conference she had been badly affected by the death of a man she met while visiting her physiotherapist in Ireland.

And she admitted she lacked the motivation to continue in the sport after winning gold in the 800 metres and 1,500m in Athens last year.


Holmes met the man while she was having physio with Gerard Hartmann in Ireland but was stunned to learn soon afterwards he had been given four weeks to live.

This changed the athlete's outlook and she confirmed she had achieved all she wanted in her athletics career, also revealing a lack of motivation meant it was the correct time to retire.

She said: "It really shook me up - one minute I was having lunch with him and then he has four weeks to live and he did die.

"I have achieved everything I wanted in my life.

"I don't want to do it anymore. I've achieved everything I wanted, I've nothing to prove to anybody including myself and I have done and surpassed what other people will continue to dream of.

"It has been a tough career with highs and lows. It (competing in Melbourne) would have put me in a position to be open to not achieving what I would have set out to do because you never know with injuries.

"I've already won the Commonwealth Games twice and got a silver medal and I had no ambition to be a Commonwealth champion again."

Holmes also revealed she will continue with her mentoring role to a group of young female athletes called 'On Camp With Kelly' after securing extra funding from Norwich Union.

"I am very passionate that I can see these girls grow - I hope one will become an Olympian in 2012."

She also announced plans for a reality TV show, a DVD and her own personal website.

Injuries have played a large part in Holmes' career, often cruelly disrupting her preparations for major championships.

But after a rare injury-free build-up to the 2004 Olympics she finally realised her dreams of glory with two stunning performances in Athens.

A perfect tactical race saw her first win gold in the 800m, coming from seventh at the bell to surge through the field, for once getting the better of former training partner Maria Mutola.

Holmes had only decided a few days beforehand to compete in the 800m as well as the 1,500m, but the gamble paid off in spectacular fashion when she won the longer event as well just a few days later.

Again biding her time at the back of the field, Holmes was eighth at the bell but cruised through the pack down the back straight and eased to victory in a new British record time.

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Personally, i hoped she would have said her goodbyes to athlectics as the Double Commonwealth Champion 2006, but alas its not to be. I'd just like to thank her for all her effort & showing us that if you keep trying, anyone can acheive their dreams.

Once again Thank You Dame Kelly

KELLY HOLMES FACTFILE

1970: Born April 19, Pembury, Kent.

1993: Ran under two minutes for the first time in Oslo after only a year back in the sport having given it up as a junior and concentrated on her army career.

World Championships 800 metres semi-finalist.

1994: European Cup runner-up. European Championships 1500m silver medallist. Commonwealth 1500m champion. Third World Cup final.

1995: European Cup 1500m winner. World Championships 800m bronze medallist. Silver medal in 1500m final. Set UK 800m record.

1996: Second European Cup 800m title. Running with stress fracture, finished fourth in Olympic 800m and 11th over 1500m.

1997: Regained European Cup 1500m title. Set UK 1500m record in Sheffield. Achilles injury saw her drop out in the heats at the World Championships. Absent for almost 12 months.

1998: Won Commonwealth 1500m silver medal, having just returned from injury.

1999: World Championships 800m semi-finalist.

2000: Won Olympic 800m bronze-medal. Seventh in 1500m final.

2001: Sixth in World Championships 800m.

2002: Fourth European Cup 800m. Regained Commonwealth 1500m title in Manchester. Won bronze in the European Championships 800m. Fourth in 1500m heat.

2003: Broke UK Indoor 800m record. Second in world indoors 1500m with UK record. The winner, Regina Jacobs, was later banned for drug offences. Second in World Championships 800m, changing to distance at last minute after a calf injury prevented her racing over 1500m.

2004: European indoor 1,000m record in Norwich Union British Grand Prix. Finished ninth at world indoor 1500m final after picking herself up when knocked to the ground. Won British Olympic 800m trial. Won London Grand Prix 1,500m.

August 23 - Won Olympic 800m gold medal in Athens.

August 28 - Won Olympic 1500m gold medal in Athens to become Britain's grea-*test*-('") female Olympian.

September 25 - Won Great North Mile.

October - Named Female Athlete of Year by British Athletics Writers' Association.

December - Named the BBC's Sports Personality of the Year.

2005: January - Victorious in 1500m Norwich Union international meeting in Glasgow.

February - Won 1,000m at Norwich Union Grand Prix event in Birmingham.

April - Announced 2005 will be her last full track season.

May - Voted the Sportswoman of the Year for 2004 at the Laureus World Sports Awards.

July - Pulled out of World Championships in Helsinki through injury.

August - Limps home in ninth place in her final track appearance in Britain at the Sheffield Grand Prix.

December 6 - Announces her retirement from athletics.