Sport's golden girl immortalised in brass

  • London
Five sporting heroes have been immortalised in bronze, brass or aluminium. Credit: Louise Giblin

A brass body cast of double-Olympic champion Dame Kelly Holmes is going on display at the Mall galleries in central London today.

She is one of five British sporting heroes to have her body immortalised for a special exhibition by artist Louise Giblin.

Each sculpture features the union flag on the front, along with the athlete's greatest sporting achievement.

Dame Kelly chose her double triumph in Athens, Kriss Akabusi selected his 1984 hurdling silver at the Los Angeles Olympics, Sally Gunnell went for her hurdling gold in Barcelona and swimmer Darren Leach wanted to commemorate four Sydney Paralympic medals. Olympic 2012 gymnastics contender Beth Tweddle selected her 2009 World Gold at London’s O2 Arena.

Kriss Akabusi said: “Having my chest shaved as smooth as a baby’s bottom and being stuck in a cast for an hour or so are a small price to pay to have my body image preserved for time and eternity”.