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Denise Lewis is one of only six British women to become Olympic champion in track and field. She competed with a serious leg injury to win gold in the heptathlon at Sydney 2000.
She was born in West Bromwich and as a youngster sang in a choir and learned ballet and tap-dancing. She was also a talented all-rounder at sport. Denise played tennis and hockey to a high standard and tried rock-climbing and abseiling, as well as excelling at athletics.
Her early sporting heroes were British Olympic Decathlon champion, Daley Thompson, runner Steve Cram and winner of the 1972 Olympic pentathlon, Mary Peters. She is also said to have liked darts player John Lowe and larger-than-life wrestler Big Daddy!
After watching the Moscow Olympics in 1980, Denise decided that she wanted to compete internationally and become the best athlete in the world. She took up athletics seriously from her early teens, initially competing in the long jump. But she was so good at the other disciplines that she later switched to heptathlon.
Besides winning Olympic gold, her other successes include Commonwealth gold in 1994 and 1998, European Championship gold, World Championship silver and a bronze at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996. Denise also holds the British and Commonwealth heptathlon records.
Off the field, her awards include an OBE, MBE, second place in the BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 1998 and 2000 and an honorary degree from Wolverhampton University.
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