Kelly plans to help the poor kids of South Africa
Kelly Holmes today revealed her new ambition to go into the South African townships to help unearth athletics talent in the country which has become her second home.
The double Olympic champion is training eight of Britain's most promising middle distance girls at her winter base a couple of hours away from Johannesburg. She hopes the initiative will do its bit to develop a new generation of British Olympians.
Yet though Holmes is keen to repeat the experiment, perhaps bringing some of Britain's top junior men on a similar exercise next year, she has even wider and more ambitious plans to help impoverished kids in South Africa. "I'd like to go into the townships and some of the under-privileged schools in the area to identify some of the talent there, motivate them and give the teachers some ideas about some things they could do with the kids in PE lessons," she said.
"It's about getting them motivated and more involved. There's a lack of opportunities but there's such a lot of talent to be tapped. I really want to get more involved with South African athletics. They've got no grass roots structure but when I've seen local kids who've come down to training, they've got immense talent but never get the opportunity to show it."
As she ponders her future in the sport at 34, admitting that her racing plans are still uncertain but also that she might still be competing until the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Holmes also revealed her keenness to be involved with mentoring schemes to help nurture British athletes.
She said: "People have asked if I'd like to be a coach but being a coach is a 100 per cent commitment. For the moment, I'd see my role more on the mentoring side and if one of the girls wanted to see me and needed help, I'd be willing to."
