In 2004, track and field athlete Dame Kelly Holmes became the first British woman to win two Olympic gold medals – a feat even more impressive given that Holmes served in the British Army for 10 years prior to her Olympic success. Holmes visited the Goldman Sachs office in London to discuss finding inspiration, overcoming multiple injuries and maintaining discipline on and off the track.
On similarities between sports and the military: “In sports you have to be disciplined, you have a schedule, you have a target. If there’s a race scheduled, it doesn’t move for you to get ready for it. So you actually have to be very precise in how you plan everything you do to get to that point. And it’s the same in the military.”
On staying motivated through injuries: “The worst thing that can ever happen for an athlete is to get injured, and I had seven years of bad injuries out of my 12-year career. [When you get injured], everything goes wrong in your head, and your mind and body get really down. But because of the time table and structured environment and knowing what you have to get ready for, that’s the driver [to stay motivated].”
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