On 24 September 2000 at the Sydney Olympics, Denise Lewis won the gold medal for the heptathlon. Although quite badly injured after the fifth event, she gritted her teeth and pulled through to achieve an excellent throw in the javelin, and finished the 800m with enough points to win her the gold. Although she had already won double gold at the European and Commonwealth games in 1998, and silver at the World Championships in Seville in 1999, her Olympic win really shot to fame. This is an amazing individual with a winning combination of talent, intelligence and looks. Growing up in Wolverhampton in a one-parent family Denise has learned that you can't have everything you want at once. At the age of 14 she would do the 3-hour round trip to Birmingham to be trained by coach Darrell Bunn. 'I questioned myself sometimes when I was tired and it rained. I thought "I don't want to do this today," but you rise above it.' She is an excellent role model and feels that it is important to show that