Honorary
Doctorates |
Dame Kelly Holmes receives an Honorary Doctorate of Sports Science
Dame Kelly Holmes, world-class athlete in women’s track and field and double-gold Olympic medallist, received an Honorary Doctorate of Sports Science from Leeds Metropolitan University on Monday 11 July at 10.30am.
View images of Dame Kelly Holmes at Leeds Met
Dame Kelly was born and brought up in the South-East, and emerged
as a promising athlete when a junior. She won the 1500m at the
English Schools Championships, but faced with a difficult career
choice, opted to join the army. She signed up a few months before
her eighteenth birthday and over the next decade progressed to
become a sergeant. She had joined with the intention of making
officer rank, but once she started running again and winning major
titles, she again confronted the question: army or running? In
1997 she left the army and made athletics her focus and career.
Since the mid-1990s the British public has shared with Kelly the
highs and lows of her track and field career. Although dogged by
injury and illness, she consistently fought through to take the
podium at major international events, breaking British records
along the way. Her disappointment at finishing fourth in the 1996
Olympics in the 800m was made good when she won bronze four years
later in Sydney. But Kelly’s celebrations at the 2000 Games
were eclipsed by the national expressions of joy that met her double
triumph in Athens.
Today Kelly Holmes is one of Britain’s most recognisable and admired athletes. Medals and records apart, her determination to overcome adversity and to make the utmost of her talents marks her out as an inspirational figure.
Since Athens there has been a procession of accolades for Kelly, including BBC Sports Personality of the Year, European Athlete of the Year and winner of the Performance of the Year Award at the IAAF Gala. Having received an MBE for services to the armed forces in 1998, Kelly Holmes was awarded damehood in the Queen’s New Year’s honours in 2005.
In the ceremony Dame Kelly said: “I would like to thank the Vice-Chancellor Professor Simon Lee and Leeds Met for giving me this honour… I am very privileged to receive it. I’d like to congratulate everyone graduating today.
In addressing the graduands Dame Kelly said she thought that at
some point when taking the degree course some of them probably
thought they could not do it, or did not want to do it, but she
said, “You did, you can and you wanted to…. it’s
something to be proud of.”
“You can have dreams and goals and you can achieve them. Life is not easy. You will always come across barriers but these barriers can be overcome… Give yourself a chance of achieving your dreams.”
