KELLY HOLMES, the double golden girl of British athletics, was in tears yesterday as she embraced her mother for the first time since her Olympic triumphs.
Holmes stepped off a flight from Athens with the rest of Team GB and into the arms of an equally tearful Pamela Thomson at Gatwick.
Mrs Thomson, who did not have a passport to travel to see her daughter win the 800 and 1,500 metres, said: “I am shaking. It is brilliant to see her again.”
Matthew Pinsent led the triumphant men’s coxless four into the arrivals hall. Speaking for the 271-strong team that won 30 medals, he said: “It feels fantastic to be a British sporting success story.”