Denise Lewis

Dame Denise Rosemarie Lewis (born 27 August 1972) is a British sports administrator and former sports presenter and athletics athlete, who specialised in the heptathlon.

She won the gold medal in the heptathlon at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, was twice Commonwealth Games champion, was the 1998 European Champion, and won World Championships silver medals in 1997 and 1999. She was the first European to win the Olympic heptathlon, though Europeans, including Briton Mary Peters, had won the Olympic pentathlon precursor event.

Her personal best score for the heptathlon is 6,831 points, set at the Décastar meeting in 2000. That is a former British record and ranks her third on the all-time British lists behind double World, double Commonwealth Games champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson and Olympic, three-time World and European champion Jessica Ennis-Hill. Along with these two and pentathletes Mary Rand and Dame Mary Peters, Lewis is recognised as one of Britain's greatest female multi-eventers, and the first in the line of British global champions in heptathlon.

Since retiring from athletics, she has undertaken work on television and other media work, and was a regular athletics pundit for BBC Television, including during the Olympic Games in London 2012, Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024. It was announced that she had stepped down from her role at the BBC on the conclusion of the athletics programme at the 2024 Games.

In addition to her media work, Lewis is president of Commonwealth Games England which is the official Commonwealth Games Association for England at the Commonwealth Games and, since 2023, president of UK Athletics, the governing body for the sport of Athletics in the United Kingdom.

Early career

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,

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 together and separated after seventeen-years of marriage. Lewis was hospitalised with sepsis and was fitted with a stent following her fiftieth birthday party.