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News12 Apr 2001


Holmes comes back again

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Steven Downes for the IAAF

13 April 2001 - Balmoral, Scotland - Kelly Holmes, Britain's surprise Olympic 800 metres bronze medallist, is faced with making yet another comeback from adversity, following a bout of glandular fever.

The former Commonwealth champion's career has been blighted by injury, and her performance at the Sydney Games came as a surprise to many because it came just six weeks into a season that had been wrecked by a torn calf muscle.

Holmes, 30, heads the field in a women's three-kilometre road race around the grounds of the Queen's Scottish Highland residence here on Saturday, part of a programme of four star-studded road races, but she is uncertain how well she has recovered from her illness.

"It's so frustrating," Holmes said here on Friday, "it seems that if it isn't one thing, it is another."

Holmes, a winner of middle distance silver and bronze medals at the 1995 IAAF World Championships, noticed she was unwell about a month ago, while training at high altitude in South Africa. "I'd been struggling in training and did a couple of races. I ran 4min 31sec for 1,500 metres - it must have been the worst race of my life," she said.

Medical checks and blood tests showed she had a low red cell count and a recurrence of the Epstein Barr virus.

"I've taken it easy for a couple of weeks, and have been taking magnesium and iron supplements, so we'll have to see how it goes tomorrow," she said.

"The main thing is, I'm very happy to be running at this stage of the year without being injured."

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