Double Olympic champion Kelly Holmes said today she will announce
her future career as an athlete at a press conference next Tuesday in
London. There is still lots of speculation whether Holmes will
compete at next year's Commonwealth Games in Melbourne where she has
been named for the 800 and 1500 metres. Equally there is even more if she doesn't, the 35-year-old superstar
might finally decide to hang up her spikes after a fantastic 12-years
international career.
Holmes after her fabulous 2004 season, has this year constantly been
troubled by achilles problems which forced her to miss the World
Championships in August. But the tough former army physical training instructor never a
quitter, has always said she would make the trip to Australia only if
fully fit. "My training's been good and I'm not injured," Holmes said this
morning, but would not comment about the chances of defending her
Commonwealth 1500m title.
Holmes knows her presence at the Games would be a huge boost to the
team, which unlike three years ago in Manchester will find the
opposition much tougher and medals harder to win.She has deliberately made competing there a top priority in the last
few weeks, after being given the go-ahead to resume full time training
by Gerard Hartmann. Hartmann is the Irish physiotherapist who treats almost every top
British athlete including Paula Radcliffe the world marathon record
holder.