Olympic medalist presents award
20th Nov 2008
Golden girl Kelly Holmes drops in!
20th Nov 2008
National School Sport Week
30th June – 4th July
Gordon Brown and Kelly Holmes call for schools to take part in largest school sport event in history
20 May 2008
Dame Kelly Holmes to offer sporting inspiration to pupils in Kent.
20 May 2008
Dame Kelly Holmes to offer sporting inspiration to pupils in Norfolk
19 May 2008
Dame Kelly speaks at the Labour Party Conference fringe event
28t Sept 2007
National School Sport Champion News
Golden girl Kelly Holmes drops in!
20th Nov 2008
Swindon Advertiser – By James Wallin
GREENDOWN pupils struck gold with a special guest – double Olympic gold medallist Dame Kelly Holmes.
Kelly was greeted with a special routine from the school’s cheerleading team yesterday and joined in a range of activities with pupils from across Swindon.
The National School Sport Champion spoke to pupils about the importance of sport and showed off her two gold medals from the 2004 Athens games.
She said she had been impressed by the enthusiasm on display at Greendown.
“The cheerleaders were brilliant,” she said. “It’s so nice to see the confidence they had and it’s an example of how young women can be inspired by a wide range of sports.
“Speaking to the director of sport here I can see that the pupils have a lot of options and something like cheerleading is a great way to get young women active as well as increasing their confidence.”
Kelly said she was happy to allow pupils to get their hands on the gold medals that were the culmination of 20 years’ hard work.
She said: “I remember when I came back from Athens the reaction from people was so great – it felt like the medals belonged to them as much as to me. I wouldn’t want them to be kept all pristine and untouched. I’m proud of my medals and I hope they can inspire kids in Swindon.”
Hannah Godfrey, 16, from Westlea, was part of the Greendown cheerleading team that welcomed Kelly.
She said: “It was quite nerve-wracking performing in front of Kelly Holmes. We made up a new routine for her, but it went really well.
“It’s great to have the opportunity to meet an Olympic champion and speak to her about her career.
“I am quite sporty and I think there’s a lot of good opportunities at this school to do all sorts of activities.”
Ben Hillerey, 15, from Abbey Meads, said: “It is great having Kelly Holmes here – there’s been a lot of excitement in the school about her coming.”
Chris Dobbs, director of sport at Greendown, said: “She’s a real inspiration to the students and it’s a good opportunity to show the good work being done in Swindon to encourage people to play sports.”