The Olympic legend learning to win at life

Opening up about depression has been vital for Dame Kelly Holmes, who’s determined to pass on what she’s discovered, she tells

Challenge and adversity are no strangers to athletics icon, Dame Kelly Holmes. The middle distance runner – who made history when she won gold for both the 800m and 1500m events at the 2004 Olympics in Athens – has battled a string of injuries and health problems during her career.

Behind the scenes though, for a long time she was quietly enduring mental health difficulties too, with depression and anxiety that at times led her to self-harm.

Since her retirement from athletics in 2005, she’s forged a successful career in health and fitness, and founded a charity – the Dame Kelly Holmes Trust (damekellyholmestrust.org) – to help other athletes and disadvantaged young people.

Now, in her new book, Running Life, an inspirational guide to mindset, fitness and nutrition, the Kentborn 48-year-old opens up about the pressure of life in sports, the conversation that “saved” her life, the impact of her mother’s death in 2017, and wanting to help others live well and achieve their goals.

“I’ve learnt so much about myself through what I’ve gone through, and I want to help other people and show them that the magic triangle of nutrition, fitness and positive thinking is the key to a happier and healthier life,” she says.

Here, Holmes talks to us about wellness and the inspiration behind her new book.

“I’ve been very open about my depression that led to the selfharming, which acted as a release from the deep despair I was feeling. In [2003], the year before my Olympic victories, I had been picking up scissors from my bathroom sink and cutting myself regularly to release the anguish I was feeling. I was worried about appearing weak, so didn’t tell my coach or training partners and didn’t want to worry friends or family.

“In the end, the person I confided in hardly spoke English. She was a doctor in the mountains of France, where I was having a massage. The reason I spoke to her wasn’t because I wanted to, but because I lost the plot right there on the massage table, and the masseur was worried about this sobbing woman lying on her bed. The doctor came in and I just blurted it all

“I don’t want to be someone on a pedestal pretending everything’s perfect”