Kelly Holmes at the World Athletics Final press conference (© Getty Images)
Glasgow, UKThree Olympic champions return to the heat of international competition for the first time this year at the Norwich Union Indoor International at Kelvin Hall in Glasgow on Saturday (29 January), which pits teams from Great Britain, France, Italy, Sweden and Russia together for this annual indoor match fixture.
“It’s about…being announced as a double Olympic champion”
Top of the list, and undisputed star attraction is Kelly Holmes, the Olympic 800m and 1500m champion who has almost single-handedly guaranteed the meeting will be a sell-out success. Nearly 4000 fans will cram into the tiny Glasgow arena to see the British Dame’s first race on a home track since her historic triumphs in Athens.
After an autumn on the celebrity circuit, picking up numerous awards, Holmes said this week she’ll be happy to get back to “what I do”.
“It has been such a hectic time since Athens and after I last raced at the end of last summer (in the World Athletics Final),” she said. “It’s been great fun but I’m an athlete and running is what I do – I can’t wait to get back on the track.
“Standing on the track on my home turf is going to be a great buzz. I’m anticipating a great welcome, which I always have when I come here anyway, but I think it means a bit more now.”
Holmes, who’s been training in South Africa and Spain recently, is the overwhelming favourite for the women’s 1500m at which she’ll be representing Britain in the five-way match.
Holmes has said since her Athens success that she wants to spend the rest of her career enjoying racing, something which she has often found difficult because of injuries and the self-imposed pressure to succeed. The newly-contented athlete is clearly looking forward to running in front of British fans who’ll hear her introduced as an Olympic champion for the first time.
“For me it’s about standing on the line and being announced as a double Olympic champion, feeling good that I have that title, and racing the best that I can,” she said. “I [will still] race to be competitive and try to win. If I happen to lose then I lose to a better person on the day, but I’ll still smile and know that I’ve won my gold medals.”
Holmes will not decide whether to summon up her renowned competitive edge for the European Indoor Championships in March until after she’s raced over 1000m at the Norwich Union Indoor Grand Prix in Birmingham on 18 February, where she is likely to face Morocco’s Mina Ait Hammou and USA’s Jenny Toomey. After her last performance in a major indoor championships, Holmes admits to being a tad nervous at the prospect.
No retirement plans yet
“The only nerve-wracking thing is the fact I fell in my last race on an indoor track at the World Indoor Championships,” she said. “The last time I was flat on my back so hopefully that doesn’t happen again.”
Holmes recovered from the severe blow that Budapest fall dealt to her confidence to scale the Olympian heights in Greece. She knows she’ll never climb so high again, a fact that has prompted the obvious question about how long she’ll carry on, another decision the 34 year-old is putting to one side for the time being.
“I have to retire when I’m ready,” she says. “I could very well get to June and think, ‘Sod this, I can’t be bothered.’ But I could go on to the Commonwealth Games [at Melbourne in March 2006]. I haven’t made up my mind at all.”
All in one year - Indoor crown, Athens gold and his first born
Jason Gardener is one British Olympic champion who’s definitely going on. The lead-off man in Britain’s triumphant 4x100m relay team began what he describes as “the best year of my life” by winning the World Indoor 60m title in Budapest last March. Gardener, whose first child Molly was born later that spring, is full of the confidence an Olympic gold medal brings, and feels Maurice Greene’s World indoor record of 6.39 is within his grasp.
“I’ve done everything indoors except break the World record,” said the 29 year-old who holds the European record of 6.46. “If I could get the right race against the right opposition it would be a possibility.”
That race could come in a few weeks’ time in Birmingham when Gardener faces Greene and his relay teammate Mark Lewis-Francis at Birmingham’s National Indoor Arena. Gardener’s opponents in Glasgow won’t be of that quality but the Briton may well have his sights set on this year’s world leading time, 6.56.
Holm – restless for more gold
Stefan Holm is the third Olympic gold medallist opening his 2005 campaign in Glasgow. The Swedish high jumper was virtually unbeatable in 2004, winning 14 contests outdoors and jumping 2.30m or better on all but one occasion. Yet the famously twitchy three-time World Indoor champion is restless for still more honours.
“Winning Olympic gold was the realisation of a dream but I am still hungry for more success,” said the 28 year-old. “Glasgow is the start of another massive year for me. There are European and World titles available and I want to show that my winning performance in Athens was no accident.”
The gauntlet has been thrown down by the Czech Republic’s Jarolsav Baba, the Olympic bronze medallist, who already has 2.35m to his name this year. Holm’s main opposition in Glasgow is likely to come from Russia’s Alexey Dmitrik.
Zhao heads strong Russian line-up
As usual the Russian’s will field a strong team, headed by an athlete Kelly Holmes may want to keep a wary eye on. The in-form Larisa Zhao will be favourite to win the women’s 800m having twice broken two minutes already this season, including a world leading 1:57.53 at the Russian Winter meeting in Moscow on 20 January.
Other significant Russians to look out for include Larisa Kruglova in the women’s 60m, Olyesa Krasnomovets, World Indoor silver medallist, in the women’s 400m, and Natalya Kresova in the women’s 60m Hurdles, and men’s Olympic Triple Jump bronze medallist Danila Burkenya.
One of the fiercest battles of the day could be in the women’s Long Jump where Olympic silver medallist Irina Simagina takes on Britain’s Olympic finalist Jade Johnson and Italy’s Olympic triple jump finalist Magdelin Martinez.
Sweden’s team includes the Kallur twins – with Jenny in the 60m and 200m, and Susanna in the 60m Hurdles – plus World indoor silver medallist Johan Wissman in the men’s 200m. He’ll face Britain’s Chris Lambert and France’s 400m man Leslie Djhone, who’s dropping down a distance.
Matthew Brown for the IAAF
