Denise Lewis

In her early heptathlete career at senior level Lewis won gold at the 1994 Commonwealth Games, bronze at the 1996 Olympics, silver at the 1997 World Championships, gold at the 1998 Commonwealth Games and European Championships and silver at the 1999 World Championships. == 2000 Olympics ==

The first day of the 2000 Summer Olympics heptathlon was 23 September. In the first event, Lewis recorded 13.23 seconds some way off her personal best, Lewis was in eighth place, 152 points behind Barber who had increased her lead. In the third event, the shot put, Lewis recorded a distance of 15.55m, placing her second, 30 points behind Natallia Sazanovich and 45 points ahead of former world champion Sabine Braun. Barber's distance of 11.27m put her in eighth place. In the final event of the day, the 200 metres, Lewis recorded a time of 24.34 sec. Braun's time placed her in sixth position. A strong run by Natalya Roshchupkina moved her from sixth position to second, pushing Lewis into third place. At the end of the first day, the points scored were: • Natallia Sazanovich, BLR: 3,903 • Natalya Roshchupkina, RUS: 3,872 • Denise Lewis, GBR: 3,852 • Urszula Włodarczyk, POL: 3,805 • Yelena Prokhorova, RUS: 3,771 • Sabine Braun, GER: 3,770 • Eunice Barber, FRA: 3,707 • Karin Specht-Ertl, GER: 3,697 The first event on the second day was the long jump. Lewis's best jump was 6.48m, marginally behind Yelena Prokhorova and Sazanovich. Eunice Barber, struggling with injury, withdrew after this event. In event six, the javelin, Lewis achieved a throw of 50.19m. With her closest rivals some way further back she moved into first place, with Sazanovich 63 points behind in second place and Prokhorova in third a further 83 points behind. In the final event, the 800 metres, Lewis ran with the lower part of her left leg bandaged due to a calf and Achilles tendon injury, aiming to stay close enough to the race leaders to maintain her points advantage. Prokhorova won the race convincingly and when Lewis crossed the line behind Sazanovich it was not clear, at first, if Lewis's time of 2:16.83 was enough to retain first place. After the individual points had been calculated, it was announced that Lewis had won with a total of 6,584 points. Prokhorova was second with 6,531 (53 points behind Lewis), and Sazanovich was third with 6,527 (4 points behind Prokhorova). == 2004 Olympics ==

At the 2004 Olympics, Lewis was suffering from a number of injuries and withdrew from the competition after the long jump. Teammate and training partner Kelly Sotherton took bronze. ==Statistics==

Personal bests Seasonal bests International competitions National titles • AAA Championships • Long jump: 1996, 1998 • AAA Indoor Championships • 60 m hurdles: 1997 • Long jump: 1994, 1995, 1998 • Shot put: 2004† :† Lewis was the top placed Briton at the 2004 AAA Indoor shot put behind Sweden's Helena Engman • AAA Junior Championships • Heptathlon (under-17): 1988 • Long jump: 1989 • British Schools International Match • Long jump: 1988 • English Schools Championships • Long jump: 1986 (junior), 1987 (intermediate) Circuit wins • Décastar: 2000 ==Honours, awards and recognition==

For services to sport, Lewis was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 1999 New Year Honours, Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2001 New Year Honours and Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2023 New Year Honours . In 2000, Lewis was also presented with the Freedom of the City of the Wolverhampton. Lewis, in 2013, was honoured at the annual Wolverhampton Famous Sons & Daughters Awards ceremony, and in 2014, was presented with an honorary degree from the University of Wolverhampton. She was also inducted into the Wolverhampton Sporting Hall of Fame in 2010, followed by the England Athletics Hall of Fame in 2011. With Dame Kelly Holmes, Christine Ohuruogu and Paula Radcliffe, Lewis enjoys acclamation as one of the "golden girls" of British athletics and, in 1998 and 2000, was runner-up in the BBC Sports Personality of the Year. In 2003, Lewis was put forward as a candidate in the BBC Midlands great Midlander of all-time award but lost to the eventual winner, Reginald Mitchell, the inventor of the Supermarine Spitfire. Lewis was voted "Sportswoman of the Year" three times by the Sports Journalists' Association (SJA), in 1997, 1998 and 2000, at that time a joint-record. She was also runner up in 1996. She was selected as "Female Athlete of the Year" by the British Athletics Writers' Association (BAWA) four times, in 1996, 1997, 1998, and 2000. Lewis won the Sunday Times "Sportswoman of the Year" a record three times, in 1994, 1998 and 2000. At the inaugural British Ethnic Diversity Sports Awards (BEDSA) in 2015, Lewis became the first recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award. She was rated as the Most Inspirational Sportswoman of 1998 and 2000 by ''Women's Health''. Her British and Commonwealth record of 6831 points was set on 30 July 2000 in Talence, France. In addition to her sports achievements, Lewis was included in the 2019 edition of the Powerlist, ranking the 100 most influential Black Britons. ==Television career==

Punditry and presenting Since 2009, Lewis has acted as a pundit for BBC Sport's athletics coverage and she has covered major live events including the 2009 World Athletics Championships, 2010 Commonwealth Games, 2012 Summer Olympics, 2014 Commonwealth Games, 2016 Summer Olympics, 2018 Commonwealth Games, 2020 Summer Olympics, 2022 Commonwealth Games and 2024 Summer Olympics. The Paris 2024 Games were Lewis' final appearance as a pundit for the BBC as she left to take up the position of President of UK Athletics. Strictly Come Dancing In 2004, Lewis took part in the BBC dancing competition, Strictly Come Dancing. She was partnered with professional dancer Ian Waite and, in the first few weeks scored the highest number of points from the judges. She eventually reached the final and was runner-up to actress Jill Halfpenny. After that, Lewis and the two other partners from the final danced at the Royal Variety Performance. Ten days after competing in the Strictly Come Dancing final, Lewis and Waite competed again in the Strictly Come Dancing Champion of Champions Special, in which finalists from the first two series competed against each other. Lewis received the most points from the judges, but again was runner-up to Halfpenny. She then appeared on the 2016 Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special, partnered with Anton du Beke. TV guest appearances • ''Let's Dance for Comic Relief'' (2009) – Contestant • All Star Family Fortunes (2009) • Pointless with her father-in-law, Tom O'Connor (2011) • The Cube on ITV (2012) • Your Face Sounds Familiar (2013) • ''Big Star's Little Star'' with her son Ryan (2014) • Give a Pet a Home (2015) • Sport Relief in a sketch with Idris Elba playing Luther (2016) • The Chase: Celebrity Special (2017) • Hairy Bikers Home for Christmas (2017) • All Star Musicals (2017) – Contestant • Would I Lie to You? (2018) • The Masked Dancer (2022) – Contestant / "Sea Slug" ==Personal life==

Born on 27 August 1972 in West Bromwich, to Jamaican-born parents, Lewis grew up in Pendeford, Wolverhampton, and was educated at the Regis School in Tettenhall, which later became the King's School. A £1 million sports hall was later built there and named in her honour. From the late 1990s until 2005, Lewis was in a relationship with Belgian sprinter Patrick Stevens, and they had a daughter. In 2006, Lewis married Steve Finan O'Connor, former manager of the UK pop group All Saints, former manager of Liam Payne, and son of comedian Tom O'Connor. They have three sons. ==See also==