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| |  Wednesday, 1 August, 2001, 08:00 GMT 09:00 UK Holmes on medal trail  Holmes won a bronze medal at the Sydney Olympics By BBC Sport Online's Tom Fordyce in Edmonton Ask members of the British team who they would most like to see win gold this summer and the name Kelly Holmes will crop up more than any other. Why? Not only because she is the sort of chirpy individual you want around when you are stuck in a dull hotel, miles from anywhere, waiting to compete. She is also probably the unluckiest athlete in the country. In an injury-free world (a big ask, but go with me on this one), Holmes would probably have Olympic and World Championship gold medals stashed in her trophy cabinet at home. As it is, she has a World 800m bronze and 1500m silver from Gothenburg in 1995, and an 800m bronze from the Olympics last year. Four years ago she went to Athens as red-hot favourite for the 1500m, the fastest in the field by, well, not a mile, but a long streak - only to break down with injury in the qualifying rounds.
She missed most of last season through injury and went to Sydney more to fulfil the old ideal of taking part than through any real hope of getting on the podium. Her reward for that brave bronze, which the British team's supremo Max Jones called "the most pleasant medal of last year"? A derisory endorsement offer from her sponsors Nike which was so low she says "I could have done better down my local shop". Then, at the start of this season, a glandular virus once again ruined her preparations. Somehow she is still all smiles and cheery banter, on the surface at least. But the upshot of it all is that she goes in the 800m and 1500m in Edmonton well short of training - and running in spikes with no logo on them.
Naomi Klein might be impressed. Kelly was not. "Nike's offer was just insulting," she says. "It takes a long time to build a profile as an athlete, and I'd won championship medals, which not many people do. But they weren't interested." Holmes freely admits she is not currently at her best, although she can divine optimism from the way she has been been running in Edmonton. "My training is getting better every time. Whether it is going to be good enough by the time the races come round, or whether I'll be peaking at the last race of the season I don't know," she says. "I'm probably in a slightly better position than last year before the Olympics because I've got two quality races under my belt. "In terms of confidence and knowing I'm progressing well, things are better. "It's going in the right direction. But I'll step on that track and see how it goes." Fierce competition Holmes' best chance lies with the 800m, despite the fact that it is one of the toughest races at the championships. Olympic gold medallist Maria Mutola is there once again, with the woman who finished second in Sydney, Austria's Stephanie Graf, possibly in better shape.
And from nowhere has come Brazilian Fabiane dos Santos, a virtual unknown at the start of the season, who pushed Mutola mighty close in Monaco and beat Graf in London. "Dos Santos was ranked 76th last year so she has made good progress, but the way she's been running, she could get disqualified," says Holmes. "She barges her way through, and that shows her inexperience of racing. She is very strong but she is a rough runner. "I don't know how she wasn't disqualified at Crystal Palace, but the World Championships are different. They are a lot less lenient. "My own priority will be going through the rounds - and until I'm in the final I can't do anything. "I'm ranked outside the world's top eight, as I was last year, so it will be hard. "But I feel confident in my running, and I've got three more training sessions which will hopefully give me extra confidence before I race." | |
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