Kelly started off from her home village of Hildenborough, closely followed by the BBC Radio Kent Big Red Bus. The crowds grew in number as the parade made its way towards Tonbridge, and bunting and banners were hung out along the route. Tonbridge's high street was overtaken by people who'd been waiting for hours to catch a glimpse of their new hero. Children wore union flag dresses, supporters hung out of windows and stood on roofs, and there was a cacophony of noise from whistles and klaxons. Overwhelmed Kelly looked overwhelmed by the reception as she stood at the front of her open-top bus, holding aloft her two gold medals for all to see. It was the kind of day that this part of Kent may never see again. The procession ended at Tonbridge Castle and Kelly made a speech to the crowd, although she had to stop every now and then when the cheering started. She also signed autographs in a marquee in the castle grounds, and the queue for that stretched for hundreds of yards. 40,000 people All in all, an estimated 40,000 people took in the parade and castle reception at one point or another - old school pals, Kelly's former coach, council dignitaries and representatives from Tonbridge Athletics Club. And of course there was Kelly's mum Jean Atkinson who summed up her daughter's prowess on the track, saying: "There were always two races when they did athletics - Kelly was in one and the rest of the school in the other." Double Olympic champion Kelly ran her heart out to win the 1500m in a new British record time of 3 minutes 57.90 seconds - and the 800m in a season's best 1 minute 56.38 seconds. At the age of 34, she's the first Briton to win both Olympic middle distance events since 1920, and only the third woman of any nationality to ever complete the feat. Before the Olympics started the odds of her doing that were 100-1. Now though Kelly's odds-on favourite to be voted 2004's BBC Sports Personality of the Year. | 
