Dame Kelly Holmes has told Mr Damian about her plans to keep in the limelight after her announcement that she is retiring from active athletics.

The double Olympic gold medallist is keen to harness her profile for the good of the country, as well as the good of her bank balance as she develops a string of new businesses all building on her new found fame.

Good Sport
Inevitably this Christmas will see the release of a Kelly Holmes fitness video, designed to get people off the couch and pounding the streets as a way to get fit.

Golden Girl

The move however has already incurred a lot of criticism as the video comes with a 25% discount for Kelly Holmes Place, an upmarket chain of private fitness clubs which she established some years ago. As a keen campaigner for the successful London 2012 Olympics bid, she's keen to continue supporting the project working as an ambassador for the country and helping to raise funds for grassroots sports projects across the UK.

As a part of this Holmes has already undertaken to run next years London Marathon and to be encased in a block of ice on top of the empty plinth in Trafalgar Square. The stunt, which mirrors that done by David Blaine in New York's Times Square a couple of years ago, 'is not as dangerous as it sounds' she said.

Track & Field Just hours after announcing her retirement at an emotional press conference, Holmes sped off to BBC Television Centre in West London with her husband Sherlock to film a celebrity crime solving show called 'Strictly You're Knicked'. 'It's not really a reality show, it's what I'd call challenge TV,' she added, 'I'm looking forward to working with my husband to solve crimes on live TV.' Sherlock, who has recently fought a well publicised drug addiction, in turn said he was looking forward to working with his wife on the project. 'I'm good at working out motives and spotting clues' he said, 'but when it comes to running after criminals I'm bloody useless, Kelly definitely has the edge there.'

Mr Holmes

Strictly You're Knicked will be on BBC One next Autumn.

Posted by damian at December 16, 2005 01:34 PM