At last, the IAAF website can reveal Kelly Holmes’s secret weapon: nuts, taken with lots of ice.
The Olympic 800 metres champion was again impressive on the track tonight as she qualified in second place in the second semi-final of the women’s 1500 metres, in her bid to become only the third woman in Games history to win both middle distance titles.
Without ever extending herself for the first 1400 metres, in which she spent much of her time at the back of the 12-woman field, the Briton’s finishing burst was enough to take her past a crowd of runners and clock 4:04.77 to Natalya Yevdokimova of Russia’s winning 4:04.66.
The faster of the two semis, both fastest losers for Saturday’s final came from this heat, with Olga Yegorova, the 2001 IAAF World 5000m champion, the last to qualify (4:05.57).
Casualties included former World campion Carla Sacramento, of Portugal, and the 2004 World Indoor winner, Kutre Dulecha, from Ethiopia from the first semi-final, which was won by Maria Cioncan in 4:06.69. The Romanian, like Holmes, thus having qualified for her second Olympic final here in Athens, just ahead of the reigning World champion, Tatyana Tomashova, and with another 800m finallist, silver medal-winner Hasna Benhassi, of Morocco, coming from five metres off the back of the pack at halfway to go trough automatically in 4:07.39.
“That’s five down, one to go,” Holmes said, tucking into a bag of cashew nuts.
“I felt fine. In the heat, I found it was really hard to focus, and not try to wave to all the people that were calling my name and saying well done after the 800,” she said, tucking into more nuts.
Asked about this new appetite for post-race snacks, Holmes explained that the British team nutritionists had advised all athletes facing multiple rounds that, in the heat and humidity of Athens, they should replenish themselves with food and water as quickly as possible.
“So I sent a text message to Sally Gunnell, who does the TV interviews for the BBC, t have a bag of peanuts ready for me after every race,” Holmes said.
It seems to be working. “I felt better than I thought I would today. The final will be a different matter, though. I’ve been really pleased with the way it has all gone, I’ve got far more than I expected. Getting into the final was another step - now I want to do better than seventh in the final, which is what I did before.
“I’ve got to go now though,” she said, excusing herself, “I’ve got to spend a couple of hours sitting in a wheelie bin full of ice. I was there until 1.30 the other morning with Jo Pavey, in a cellar somewhere. It’s supposed to help the muscles recover more quickly.”
At which point, Holmes exited, stage left, her bag of nuts in hand.
SD
