Kelly Holmes with England and Christmas (© Getty Images)
Beijing, ChinaDanielle Christmas and Hannah England have achieved their aim this year of being selected for the World Junior Championships in Beijing. After a disrupted start to the season because of injury problems they have both done fantastically to qualify for the champs.
Dame Kelly Holmes, Olympic 800m and 1500m champion and IAAF Ambassador reports for the IAAF website on the progress of two of her ‘On Camp with Kelly’ girls as they embark on their international careers…
Danielle is 18-years-old and running in the 800m, qualifying from last night’s preliminary round (2:08.53; 15 Aug) for Wednesday’s semi-final (16 Aug). She is from Horley in Surrey UK and has just finished school. She has a personal best of 2.05.67. Dani is the Commonwealth youth games Champion from 2004 at 800m.
Hannah England is 19-years-old and is running the 1500m. She is from Oxford in the UK and is currently studying at Birmingham University. She has a personal best of 4.18.80 with a 2:05.25 personal best. Hannah is the British under 20 Champion in the 1500m.
I started ‘On Camp with Kelly’ in January 2004. The idea came as a result of not knowing whether I would ever achieve my ultimate dream of becoming Olympic Champion, so I thought that maybe I could help other young athletes achieve theirs. My aim was to take 8 junior female athletes to South Africa on a month long Education Training camp to educate them in what it takes to be a World Class Athlete. After approaching Norwich Union about the idea they were keen to fund the initiative and have been the sole sponsor to date.
In July 2004 I held a selection day for 13 young female athletes aged 16-20. The girls chosen were on the UK Athletics ranking list and were girls that performance wise had the potential to progress through the ranks if pointed in the right direction. I assessed them for not only their physical capabilities but their determination and attitude.
Then August 2004 my dream did come true (more than once). After years of determination and passion I won 2 gold medals at the Athens Olympic Games and although I was inundated with requests, I was intent on driving the concept forward.
The one month trip to South Africa took place for eight girls in October 2004 and proved to be very successful.
After returning from the camp I decided that I could not just leave the girls so decided to continue with the concept and with funding and support from Norwich Union OCWK has turned into a very successful initiative. Since then there has been a range of get together weekends and warm weather training trips as below:
• April 2005 - Informational get together, Loughborough University, UK
• July 2005 –2 week warm weather training trip, Valencia Spain
• Norwich Union international athletics races, UK 2005/2006
• October 2005 - Army Training weekend, Army Training Centre in Pirbright Surrey, UK.
• In March 2006 - Melbourne Australia 3 week educational camp Commonwealth Games
• May 2006 – ‘The Road to London’ – Get-Together weekend in East London. During the w/e they were fortunate to visit the Olympic Sites and the London 2012 offices for a talk from none other than Lord Sebastian Coe which proved to be very motivating and inspirational for the girls.
There have been 28 girls that have had some level of involvement with the initiative, including Sian Edwards in the 5000m and Stephine Twell in the 1500m, with a core group of around 15 that are receiving ongoing advice, support and mentoring.
Danielle and Hannah both have huge talent and lots of enthusiasm that I am sure that being involved with ‘On Camp with Kelly’ has given them all the background they need to enable them to concentrate solely on the championships.
My hope for them is that they do the best they can and anything else is a bonus, I believe they have the ability to get to the finals but this is a World Junior Championships and anything can happen. I am sure they will make the most of their experiences!
I am looking forward to watching their performances and will be out in Beijing to cheer them on.
More information is on my website www.doublegold.co.uk
Dame Kelly Holmes for the IAAF
