Dame Kelly Holmes has enjoyed a successful career that has been marked by glorious highs and tumultuous lows, having been a former professional athlete who claimed two Olympic Gold medals in the 800m and 1500m. Since her retirement from competitive athletics, Kelly has used her prominence to advocate for various topical subjects – such as LGBT+ rights and mental health, having recently come out as gay in 2022. Highly passionate about motivating people to reach their full potential, Kelly is frequently sought after to share her powerful story as a motivational speaker, focussing on topics of mental health in the workplace, performance, resilience and overcoming adversity.
As a successful Olympic athlete, Kelly’s training began aged 12, before joining the British Army at 18. During her tenure in the Army, Kelly served as a HGV Driver in the Women’s Royal Army Corps, before progressing into the role of Physical Training Instructor of the Royal Army Physical Training Corps. Kelly became a full-time athlete in 1997, training to compete in the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games – where she claimed Bronze in the 800m. During her training for the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, Kelly was unfortunately plagued by injury, and began suffering with her mental health. Despite facing such adversity, Kelly never let adversity stop her from succeeding, instead using her prominence as an athlete to raise awareness for mental health – speaking out about self-harm and depression. Although she had been challenged by injury, Kelly finished her athletics career with two Olympic Golds, two Silver World Championship medals, two Commonwealth Games Gold medals and a Silver European Championship medal to name but a few of her iconic sporting successes.
Having broken the British Record on two occasions and been named Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year, Kelly was iconically inducted into the England Athletics Hall of Fame in 2010. Also named BBC Sports Personality of the Year and Women’s European Athlete of the Year in 2004, Kelly has left a long-lasting legacy in the world of athletics. Following her athletics career, Kelly became the Founder of the Dame Kelly Holmes Trust, a powerful charity supporting young athletes and disadvantaged youth across the country. Kelly has also worked as the President of Commonwealth Games England and can also be seen as a regular Panellist on Loose Women. In honour of her highly successful and inspirational career, Kelly was appointed MBE in 1998 for Services to the British Army and DBE in 2005 for Services to Athletics. She has also been awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Loughborough University and named Honorary Colonel of the Royal Armoured Corps Training Regiment.
Having recently published her memoir, Kelly Holmes: Unique – A Memoir, Kelly now uses her stature as a former elite athlete to powerfully advocate for her passions. As a proud member of the LGBT+ community, Kelly often speaks out about how she felt as though she could not reveal her true identity and sexuality during her service in the military and that she would be shunned in athletics due to lack of representation. To further her advocacy for the LGBT+ community, Kelly has also starred in Kelly Holmes: Being Me, a documentary in which she described her fears of her sexuality before coming out. Now hired as a powerful motivational speaker, Kelly emotively shares the story of her journey to coming out and her struggles with mental health along the way. With a plethora of prestigious clients having already hired her for speaking engagements, including the likes of Ernst & Young and Mondelez, Kelly was invited to deliver the TEDx Talk Life Discovery. If you are looking for a motivational speaker who can drive honest conversations surrounding mental health, wellbeing and LGBT+ rights, don’t hesitate to hire Dame Kelly Holmes today!
In recognition of her advocacy for the LGBT+ community, Dame Kelly Holmes was recently named as one of the Official Top 15 Speakers to Hire for LGBT+ History Month!
Social Media
Books
Just Go For It: 6 Simple Steps To Achieve Success
Running Life: Mindset, Fitness & Nutrition For Positive Wellbeing
Black, White & Gold: My Autobiography
Kelly Holmes: Unique – A Memoir
Reviews
Dame Kelly Holmes received a 5 star rating across 20 events in 2023
Agent Recommendation
"Dame Kelly Holmes is an exceptional motivational speaker, inspiring audiences with her story of overcoming adversity to achieve Olympic gold. Her unwavering determination, military discipline and triumphs in athletics make her a powerful advocate for perseverance, peak performance and resilience. Kelly's journey is a testament to her incredible spirit and ability to motivate others."
How to hire Col. Dame Kelly Holmes
Contact the Champions Speakers Agency to provisionally enquire about hiring Col. Dame Kelly Holmes for your next event, today. To get in touch, simply call an official booking agent on 0207 1010 553 or email us at [email protected] for more information.
** We do not accept requests for autographs, signed merchandise, fan mail, birthday messages or any other non-commercial contact with the speakers or acts. Each speaker on the website may not have necessarily worked with Champions in the past but are known to perform such engagements within the industry.
Dame Kelly Holmes' official speaking topics are listed below:
- Motivation & Inspiration
- Mental Health in the Workplace
- Performance, Resilience & Overcoming Adversity
- Inspirational Leadership
- Goal Setting & High Performing Teams
- Health, Wellbeing & Nutrition
- Elite Sports Performance
- Women's Empowerment
Official Feedback from In-Person & Virtual Events
Feedback from In-Person Events:
"Charles Stanley Plc has been a stockbroker and provider of financial services since 1792. Today the company continues to grow with offices nationwide offering a complete investment management service to their clients. Kelly drew on her own inspirational story to deliver a motivational after dinner speech to senior employees of Charles Stanley Plc at their 2013 Business Conference." - David, Chairman
"She was amazing!" - RMP Enterprise
"We had an amazing day and Dame Kelly was an excellent ambassador! Kelly was happy to have numerous selfies and spend time talking to the staff in the call centre which meant a lot! Her speech was brilliant and kept us all spellbound and to some a bit emotional." - Michelle, Newlyn Connect Centre”
"Please pass our thanks on to Kelly. The delegates' loved her and all staff was in agreement that she was the best speaker that we have ever had!" - Petrina, Institute and Faculty of Actuaries
"Many thanks for arranging Dame Kelly. She was amazing and went down a storm at our event. Lovely lady who had time to speak with a lot of people." – Carmelle JCI
"It was fabulous – she is such a lovely woman and the energy from the audience was fantastic, they all loved her and bless her she was mobbed afterwards for photos and chats and she had time for everyone, really couldn’t have asked for a better guest for our first live event – she has set the bar high." - Sky
"She was fantastic. Really engaging and spent so much time with everyone. It’s being really talked about across the company - people just loved her session and how engaging she was. Thank you!" - Duncan, Domestic & General
"Kelly was incredible! Thanks! "- Lucy, Healthcircle
"Kelly was fantastic. We enjoyed having her on stage and the audience were clearly engaged - she covered a wide variety of topics in a relatable way. I have heard nothing but positive feedback from attendees. The crowd were particularly interested in her charitable endeavours. She was both humble and inspiring." - Indeed
"Would you be able to pass on not only my thanks but a huge thank you to Dame Kelly on behalf of everyone at the hospice. Dame Kelly truly went above and beyond for the hospice on Friday and we are extremely grateful. It was an absolute pleasure for our Fundraising Director to show Dame Kelly around the hospice prior to the event. The audience absolutely loved Dame Kelly’s interview with Dougie on stage and thought she really was a true inspiration. We truly hope Dame Kelly enjoyed being involved."- Amanda, The Prince & Princess of Wales Hospice
"I just wanted to give feedback on how great Dame Kelly was, not only inspiring and motivational, just took every business-related question and could relate it either to her time in the Army or Athletics. She was also very open her life and the mental and physical challenges she has been through. I also need to add she was lovely, very warm, joined us for lunch, happy to do selfies etc. Our President and SVP were equally impressed and inspired. I could not recommend any higher, just brilliant." - Mark, Vice President, Hitachi Vantara
"Wow Wow Wow! Kelly was fantastic yesterday. We got really great feedback from attendees. Inspirational, Genuine, Authentic were words that were used." - Brad, Head of Events, Rothesay
Feedback from Virtual Events:
"Everyone absolutely loved Kelly, she is so fantastic." - Ernst & Young
"It went very well! Better than we could have imagined – very positive feedback. Dame Kelly even joined in on our cocktail making session after! Our clients absolutely loved it. Thank you so much for helping us arrange!!" - Ruby @ Exponential E
"If you could pass on to Kelly a personal thanks from myself and Katie. The talk exceeded our expectations, the energy, authenticity and inspiration Kelly gave our colleagues was brilliant and since the session finished only 30 minutes ago, we have been inundated with positive feedback and comments. A huge thank you for agreeing to be part of our employee wellbeing initiative"- Megan, MDLZ
"That was a fantastic session with Kelly, we really enjoyed having her speak. Please do pass on our thanks and appreciation. So many questions and not enough time but people thoroughly enjoyed her and found her inspirational and motivational." - Morven, Global Head of Reward and Benefits, Maples Group
"Obviously you are a natural but we want to thank you for being so open and honest and giving such great advice. Louis and I enjoyed every minute and you made us feel so comfortable. We both agree this has gone down as a top moment in our careers and a proud moment for our Ethnicity ERG we hope by having these talks we can help people to be confident in being more themselves at work and hopefully we will see more people from different backgrounds feel like they fit in at a place like Exertis." - Alisha, New Business Onboarding Specialist, Exertis
"It was a great session and really well received." - Morven, Maples Group
- 2024 - Talk SPORT Commentator for the Paris 2024 Olympics
- 2024 - Led the Team Samaritans Support Squad at the TCS London Marathon
- 2022 - Came out publically as gay in an interview with the Sunday Mirror & starred in "Kelly Holmes: Being Me"
- 2022 - Regular Panellist on ITV's "Loose Women"
- 2018 - Made Honorary Colonel of the Royal Armoured Corps Training Regiment
- 2015 - Starred in "Bear Grylls: Mission Survive" on ITV
- 2010 - Inducted into the England Athletics Hall of Fame
- 2009 - Named President of Commonwealth Games England
- 2008 - Founder of the Dame Kelly Holmes Trust
- 2007 - Recipient of an Honorary Doctorate from Loughborough University
- 2005 - Winner of the Laureus World Sports Award for Sportswoman of the Year
- 2005 - Appointed DBE for Services to Athletics
- 2004 - Named Women's European Athlete of the Year & BBC Sports Personality of the Year
- 2004 - Took part in "On Camp with Kelly" sponsored by Aviva
- 2003 - Broke the British Record for the 600m
- 1998 - Appointed MBE for Services to the British Army
- 1997 - Broke the British Record for the 1000m
- 1995 - Broke the British Record for the 800m
- 2 x Olympic Gold medallist in the 800m & 1500m
- 1 x Olympic Bronze medallist in the 800m
- 2x World Championships Silver medallist in 800m & 1500m
- 1 x World Championships Bronze medallist in 800m
- 1 x World Indoor Championships Silver medallist in 1500m
- 1 x European Championships Silver medallist in 1500m
- 1 x European Championships Bronze medallist in 800m
- 2 x Commonwealth Games Gold medallist in 1500m
- 1 x Commonwealth Games Silver medallist in 1500m
- Former HGV Driver in the Women's Royal Army Corps
