Kelly Holmes’s victory in the Athens 800 metres Olympic final proved one thing that her fans always knew - when she’s fit, she’s one of the most talented middle-distance runners Britain has ever produced.
Unfortunately, it’s a fact that has taken an awful long time for Holmes herself to believe.
At 34, she has the chance to become the first Briton to capture the Olympic 800m-1500m double since Albert Hill at the 1920 Antwerp Games. It is a feat that not even her great hero, Sebastian Coe, ever managed.
And if she pulls it off, those big brown eyes that expressed such disbelief at Monday’s 800m win will probably pop right out of their sockets.
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Born in Kent on April 19, 1970, Holmes was an ultra-talented school athlete who started training with the Tonbridge club at the age of 12. She won English schools titles at both junior and senior level but dropped out of the sport aged 18 to pursue a career in the Army - where she also became a judo champion.
But while watching the 1992 Barcelona Olympics from her barracks, Holmes saw an old racing rival, Lisa York, in the heats of the 3,000 metres and that inspired her to return to the sport. She wasted little time in making an impression.
In her first year back she was competing internationally at under-23 level and a year later took both AAA and UK titles over 800 metres. Her first sub-two minute victory also came in 1993, when second in the Bislett Games in Oslo and she won her first major title in the 1,500 metres at the 1994 Commonwealth Games, having earlier taken silver in the Europeans.
But the World and Olympic titles have always eluded her. She won an 800 metres bronze at the Gothenburg World Championships in 1995, but had to settle for a brave fourth in the 800 metres at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics when she raced with a stress fracture.
In 1997, Holmes arrived at the Athens World Championships as the clear favourite in the 1,500 metres, having run more than five seconds faster than any of her rivals. But she hobbled out of the 800-metre heats on the first day of the championships with a torn Achilles tendon and had to endure a lengthy lay-off from the sport.
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Holmes’s finest Olympic moment - until her Athens victory - came in Sydney, when she grabbed bronze behind Maria Mutola, the Mozambican who became her friend and regular training partner until this year.
But until a couple of weeks ago she was not even sure whether it was worth entering the 800 metres in Athens, or whether she should just focus on her favoured distance, the 1,500m. At best, Holmes and Team GB officials thought, she might pick up a minor medal. At worst it could completely derail her Athens campaign.
In the event, Holmes ran a tactically perfect race, hanging at the back of the field until some 300 metres out, then following Mutola through the field from the top bend. The final straight seemed to last an eternity as she edged past her friend and hung on to win from Hasna Benhassi of Tunisia and the fast-finishing Slovenian, Jolanda Ceplak.
Her eyes almost popping out of her head, Holmes had to read the stadium results board twice before daring to believe that she had taken a gold medal. She said later that she’d barely ever considered the double, only because she’d never believed she could win over 800m.
In an interview with The Times last month, Holmes it was always a lack of confidence that messed her up in the 1,500 because “I let myself become preoccupied with other runners and can’t relax and concentrate on my own race”. That may all have changed after her gold-medal run yesterday.