Denise Lewis OBE is a retired British athlete who specialised in the heptathlon, in which and she won the gold medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
Alongside Kelly Holmes, Paula Radcliffe and Christine Ohuruogu, Lewis is one of the current “golden girls” of British athletics and has twice (1998 and 2000) been runner up in the BBC Sports Personality of the Year.
In 2004, Lewis took part in the BBC’s “Strictly Come Dancing”. She was partnered alongside professional dancer, Ian Waite and in the first few weeks scored the highest number of points with the judges. She eventually reached the final and was runner-up to actress Jill Halfpenny.
In 2009, Denise was a pundit for BBC Sport’s coverage of the 2009 World Athletics Championships from Berlin alongside Michael Johnson and Colin Jackson a role she filled again for the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi.
Lewis left the BBC following the 2024 Olympics in Paris.