Fans flock to see Kelly
Double Olympic champion Kelly Holmes admits it will take some time to come to terms with her new-found fame.
The 34-year-old was greeted by crowds of around 40,000 in her home town yesterday as she paraded through the streets of Tonbridge on an open-top bus.
The adulation which has followed Holmes, hailed as Britain's greatest British female athlete following her 800metres and 1500m victories in Athens, has left the former Army sergeant humbled.
"It is unbelievable," she said after a civic ceremony organised by Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council in Kent. "I can't take in. That is the kind of thing you see in London when the whole team are coming through, and then I get all this in my home town for little old me.
"I am so grateful for all the effort the people have made to get out and see me. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that amount of people would come to support me.
"I am just someone who grew up in a nearby village and followed her dream."
Given all the hype of the past few days, Holmes is uncertain whether she will race at a meeting in Reigi, Italy, this weekend.
"It is not totally confirmed," she said. "If not, I will be racing the following Sunday in Berlin."
