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Kelly Holmes

Double Olympic Champion and Motivational Speaker

Legendary middle-distance runner who has won 12 major championship medals at international competitions, including two Olympic gold medals
Took her winning mentality from the track to the business world as an entrepreneur and philanthropist
Draws from her career overcoming obstacles on the path to success to inspire audiences to think, prepare, and perform at an elite level

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The Athens Olympic Games was the pinnacle of a long but frustrating international athletics career for Kelly Holmes. Her Double Olympic Gold triumph changed her life forever and fulfilled her second childhood dream of becoming an Olympic Champion.

Her first dream was joining the British Army which she realised at the age of 17; she was later recognised for her services to the Military when she received her MBE after 9 years’ service. Kelly turned her back on athletics to forge a successful career and become a PTI in the British Army. However, she was inspired to return to the track in 1992, watching the Barcelona Olympic Games from her barracks room on camp, when she was surprised to see a former junior rival line up in the women’s 1500m.

The build-up to the Athens Olympic Games was the first year in seven, that Kelly wasn’t injured and she made the brave decision to double up in the 800m and 1500m, and the rest is history. She finished her illustrious career with 12 major championship medals from the Olympics, Worlds, Commonwealth Games and Europeans. She ranks one of the proudest moments of her life as receiving her Damehood from the Queen in March 2005.

Since retiring from international athletics, Kelly has started a new chapter in her life in the business world; establishing her own company Double Gold and her charity the Dame Kelly Holmes Legacy Trust. She has also been active in raising the profile of school sport up the political agenda. Kelly became National School Sport Champion in 2006 for three years and pioneered the creation of National School Sport Week. She also led the creation of Girls Active set up with the Youth Sports Trust to capture the interest of disengaged female teenagers.

Kelly fulfilled a personal ambition when she set up the Dame Kelly Holmes Legacy Trust in 2008, to create life chances for young people. The charity has successfully delivered programmes for hundreds of disengaged young people not in education, training or unemployment and given them a life changing experience.

She now has a number of ambassadorial positions for TeamGB, London 2012 sponsor BT, the Jaguar Academy of Sport alongside the honour of being President of Commonwealth Games England. She also fulfils speaking engagements to the corporate industry sharing her stories of overcoming adversity, setbacks and desperation to finally achieve her lifelong dreams. In her limited spare time, Kelly devotes time to supporting her chosen charities the Laureus Sports Foundation, Hospice in the Weald and Sport Relief, alongside her own charity.

She has driven the development of Double Gold Enterprises to develop the Kelly Holmes brand to market products, services and experiences to inspire what she is so passionate about; the pursuit of health, fitness, well-being and achievement in sport. Her personal and business goals continue to evolve and her vision and energy has no bounds.

Speaker Video

Olympian Kelly Holmes On Success

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The Business of Winning. Corporate events usually include customer focused activities and corporate hospitality. Dame Kelly offers an insider’s view, knowing what it takes to be a winner and how that translates into everyday working life.

Since childhood Kelly Holmes has always aspired to do more, be better, take every opportunity and achieve goals most people only dream about.

After being part of the magical Opening Ceremony for the London 2012 Olympic Games, and now looking forward to Glasgow 2014, as President of Commonwealth Games England, Dame Kelly is available to inspire and motivate in “The Business of Winning.”

Applying Optimum Nutrition and Introducing Supplements. The foods and fluids that we consume on a daily basis provide the body with essential nutrients required for the maintenance of health, the prevention of disease and optimal sports performance. A healthy diet, rich in proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants is essential to maintain physiological processes such as energy metabolism, protein development, immune function, cardiovascular function and bone metabolism.

Nutrition is a complex combination of physiological needs and psychological aspects. For some individuals, they simply eat to sustain physiological processes, reduce feelings of hunger and maintain health.

For others (the majority), there is a large psychological component whereby food choices are dictated by mood and food is eaten for enjoyment. Additional factors to consider are:

Social aspects, whereby eating is a means of socialising
Economic aspects, whereby food choices are largely dictated by cost
Schedules, whereby food intake can be significantly affected by time constraints

In any case, it is important to understand:

What motivates an individual from a nutritional perspective
An individual’s nutritional desires, strengths and weaknesses
What an individual wants to achieve from their nutritional intake, e.g. to promote good health, to improve body composition for health, performance or aesthetic purposes etc
How to achieve the above goals, taking into consideration an individual’s lifestyle and economic position

Exercise for Appearance. The fitness industry is a growing market, with a constant supply of new equipment, diet systems and exercise strategies. The vast majority are driven by organisations or individuals seeking to make a profit and not necessarily any more effective than systems or techniques that have been around for the last five decades.

Over the last ten years buzz words such as “core” and “functional” have dominated the market place. Even major health club chains have invested heavily in functional equipment. The one area that has not changed over the years is what the vast majority of the general public desire - appearance improvements!

Great personal trainers understand that the key to maximise anyone’s appearance goal is to design a training plan as an artist would build a clay sculpture; looking at the skeletal bones as the frame to adjust the quantity and proportions of muscle while adjusting body fat composition to achieve the desired look.

This course is designed to provide you with powerful tools that will impact on the appearance requirements of your clients. We will clarify and dispel many myths including:

How some of the most effective CV training includes weights and not treadmills
Clarifying the most effective exercises that impact on appearance
The truth behind real exercise intensity and speed of movement
How very subtle adjustments in movement angles accelerate muscle reaction
Resistance training techniques that actually work in the real world and are achieved in as little as 20 minutes
What is functional and core, where they add value and where they do not

Double Gold Athlete at Work. The new Double Gold^® athlete at work programmes blend the essence, insight and spirit of Dame Kelly with the expertise, knowledge and experience of K2 Performance Systems, to help people at work to think, prepare and perform like elite athletes.

The Double Gold^® athlete at work programme takes the specific, detailed and proven performance insights of Dame Kelly Holmes and translates them into high impact ways in which you can raise your game.

The programme will help you to: