Dame Kelly Holmes says she is "getting rid of that fear" as the Olympic champion reveals she is gay.

 

In an interview with the Sunday Mirror, the 52-year-old said she was both nervous and excited about coming out.

 

"I needed to do this now, for me. It was my decision. I'm nervous about saying it. I feel like I'm going to explode with excitement," she said.

 

"Sometimes I cry with relief. The moment this comes out, I'm essentially getting rid of that fear."

 

Dame Kelly became only the third woman in history and the first Briton since Albert Hill 84 years earlier to win the 800m and 1500m Olympic double at the Athens games in 2004.

 

She has achieved seven gold, eight silver and four bronze Olympic, Commonwealth and European medals throughout her athletic career.

 

She shared the news during Pride month, which celebrates and raises awareness about LGBTQ+ communities and will this year commemorate 50 years since the UK's first Pride march.

British long jumper Shara Proctor, who won world silver at Beijing 2015, has retired at the age of 33.

 

Proctor set the current British record of 7.07m on her way to silver in Beijing, but missed out on last year's Olympics in Tokyo.

 

"This is a decision I have been thinking through for some time, and it is one I am blessed to feel truly happy and content with," she said.

 

"I am happy now to finish, it is the perfect decision and time for me now."

 

She said she was "so very happy" to have represented Great Britain after switching from competing for her native Anguilla in 2011.

Sha'Carri Richardson failed to advance past the first round in the women's 100m at the US track and field championships in Oregon.

 

In what is the American team's trials for the World Championships at the same venue in July, the 22-year-old was fifth in her heat.

 

Richardson, who missed the Olympics in Tokyo last year after testing positive for marijuana, ran 11.31 seconds.

 

In the men's 100m, Fred Kerley won his heat in a world-leading 9.83secs.

Wilfried Happio has sensationally won the French 400m hurdles championship - despite being assaulted just 20 minutes earlier in shocking scenes.

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/sportsnew...s-champion.html

Squad for the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon:

 

https://www.britishathletics.org.uk/news-an...s-is-confirmed/

Nigerian sprinter Blessing Okagbare has been handed an extra one-year ban for additional doping violations to add to her existing 10-year suspension.

 

The Athletics Integrity Unit charged her with "evading sample collection, and tampering or attempted tampering with the doping control process".

 

In February, the 33-year-old was handed her original ban for "multiple breaches of anti-doping rules".

 

She was suspended during the 2021 Tokyo Olympics after failing a drug test.

 

As a result of Okagbare's additional ban, Nigeria has lost its potential qualification place in the women's 4x100m relay at July's World Championships in Oregon.

Great Britain's Dina Asher-Smith held on to claim a morale-boosting 200m win in the Diamond League on Thursday.

 

The 200m world champion, who will defend her title in Oregon next month, was a surprise second to Daryll Neita over 100m at the UK Championships.

 

But Asher-Smith, 26, ran 22.364 seconds in Stockholm to edge out Switzerland's Mujinga Kambundji (22.367).

 

Lorraine Ugen was GB's other winner in the Swedish capital, with a season's best of 6.81m in the women's long jump.

 

That was enough to finish ahead of Ukraine's Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk (6.76m) and Sweden's Khaddi Sagnia (6.74).

Mo Farah has just revealed that he was illegally trafficked to the UK without his family, and that his real name is not Mo Farah.

 

This must have taken a lot of guts to make public; there's a documentary on tomorrow night which I imagine will be quite interesting to watch.

World Athletics president Lord Coe has said championships could be moved to protect athletes from extreme heat.

 

He voiced concerns over safety and warned he envisaged the governing body changing event locations as a result of global warming.

 

Temperatures hit 32C at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon this week, and wildfires have struck Europe.

 

"I can see us being in a position where we start looking at some of our endurance events," said Lord Coe.

 

"Maybe when we come to some of our road events, race walks and marathons we might need to look at how we separate them from championships and put them into a more benign environment.

Dina Asher-Smith has been selected to defend all three of her titles at next month's European Championships.

 

The British sprinter withdrew from the Commonwealth Games after suffering an injury at the World Championships.

 

The 26-year-old suffered a "light hamstring strain" during the women's 4x100m relay final on Monday.

 

But Asher-Smith, who won European gold in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay in Berlin in 2018, is in Great Britain's squad for Munich next month.

World champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce has run the fastest women's 100m of the year, clocking 10.66 seconds to win at the Diamond League in Silesia, Poland.

 

Jamaican Fraser-Pryce, 35, who won a record fifth women's 100m world title last month in Oregon, skipped the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

 

American Aleia Hobbs was second in 10.94, with Ivory Coast's Marie-Josee Ta Lou third in 11.00.

Toni Minichiello has been banned from coaching for life by UK Athletics over sexually inappropriate conduct after being found to have committed "gross breaches of trust".

 

The 56-year-old, who had been subject of multiple complaints from women in athletics, was found to have committed 11 serious charges by an independent case-management group.

Had to be the right decision - wellbeing of the athletes absolutely has to come first in these situations.

Decathlete Ben Gregory is in a critical condition after being involved in a serious bike crash over the weekend.

 

The 31-year-old's partner, Naomi Heffernan, said on social media: "Ben... has a fractured skull, neck and multiple haemorrhages to his brain. He's in a coma and on life support."

 

Gregory has represented Great Britain, is a multiple Welsh champion and competed at three Commonwealth Games.

Decathlete Ben Gregory has taken his first breaths without assistance since being involved in a serious bike crash.

 

The 31-year-old has been in a coma since the incident last month, which left him with a fractured skull, neck and multiple haemorrhages to his brain.

 

But his partner, Naomi Heffernan, said on social media that Gregory has taken "his first breaths on his own without the use of a machine".

Italian Olympic champion Gianmarco Tamberi saw off the challenge of American multi-discipline prodigy JuVaughn Harrison to claim the Diamond League high-jump title in Zurich.

Laura Muir and Jake Wightman made it a memorable Scottish double at Sunday's 5th Avenue Mile in New York.

 

European 1500m champion Muir, 29, crossed the line in a course record time of four minutes 14.8 seconds, a long way in front of American duo Nikki Hiltz and Eleanor Fulton.

 

Fellow Scot Jemma Reekie, who won the event last year, was fourth.

 

Wightman, 28, defended his 2021 title to add to his 2018 success, finishing in a time of 3:49.6.

 

Wales' Jake Heyward was second, with American Sam Prakel in third place.

Well done to the pair of them! They really have had so much success over the past couple of months, with the World Champs and Commonwealth Games as well.

James Dasaolu hangs up his spikes - https://athleticsweekly.com/athletics-news/...ics-1039961066/

 

Still equal 2nd on the GB All Time list; world champs finalist in 2013 and European Champion the following year. Injuries were an ever present though and spent some time in recent years in Bobsleigh, although didn't make the team for Beijing.

Muller have decided not to renew their sponsorship deal with British Athletics.

 

https://athleticsweekly.com/athletics-news/...ics-1039961055/