DAME Kelly Holmes has announced her reitrement from athletics.

The double Olympic-gold medal winner, from Hildenborough, says the Sheffield Grand Prix on August 21 will be her last race in the UK, though she may race one final time in the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne in March 2006.

After achieving her lifetime’s ambition by winning gold in the 800m and 1500m in Athens last summer, Holmes admitted she no longer had the same motivation to race.

"If you look at my career I’ve won 13 medals, from Commonwealth Games, World Championships, Europeans and Indoor Championships, so I’ve got nothing to prove to myself or anybody else."