KENT'S Olympic hero Kelly Holmes will start cashing in on her Athens success when she runs in Berlin this weekend.

She will earn about £28,000 for running the 1,500 metres at the prestigious event - that’s an amazing £180 for every metre she runs.

Her newly-recruited management team is also likely to negotiate a £200,000 contract for her to run six or seven British athletics meetings next year.

Holmes, who has appeared on Parkinson and in Hello magazine since her stunning 800 and 1500-metre triumphs in Greece, says she needs to make up for years of little financial return from athletics.

Holmes, from Hildenborough, near Tonbridge, said: “I think I need to capitalise on it. I have dedicated myself to the sport and I do not think I have got the rewards that I maybe should have got.

“I certainly have not earned a great deal, so anything that comes now is a bonus.”

While the Hildenborough runner has no plans to retire immediately, she has excluded competing at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

“I would like to win an indoor title, maybe go for the European indoors and then do all the British meetings to say thank you to the fans,” she said.