Kelly Holmes and Usain Bolt

Double Olympic gold medallist, Dame Kelly Holmes says Usain Bolt’s achievements the past year or so had generated the much needed interest, and single-handedly saved a dying sport.

Dame Kelly Holmes was quoted, “Athletics is now interesting because of one man, I’m sorry to say that, but the only reason athletics was popular this year was because of Bolt. There were more people that watched the World Championships because of that man and I don’t care, that’s the truth. If that’s helped athletics be a sport that provides a platform to be more recognised then great, but I have to say, I think athletics has been saved by him.”

Dame Kelly Holmes, DBE MBE (born 19 April 1970) is a retired British middle distance athlete. She specialised in the 800 metres and 1500 metres events and won a gold medal for both distances at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.

Holmes added on British home grown talent, “We haven’t done well as a sport in this country for quite a long time considering how much funding that has gone into it, the performances that have come out the other end have been quite poor. This year at Berlin that has changed a bit with the likes of Jessica Ennis and Lisa Dobriskey. But the sport need to have athletes that are the best in the world, not just for one year, they have to be over a period of time and I think that will get the interest back, because unfortunately it is star-led.”