Дениз Льюис: Олимпиада чемпионы, спорт сарапашысы және әкімшісі

British television personality and retired athlete

Dame Denise Rosemarie Lewis (born 27 August 1972) is a British sports presenter, sports administrator and former track and field 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 is now a regular athletics pundit for BBC Television, including during the Olympic Games in London 2012, Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020. 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.

1991European Junior ChampionshipsThessaloniki, Greece5thHeptathlon5,476 pts1994Commonwealth GamesVictoria, Canada8thLong jump6.32 m1stHeptathlon6,325 ptsEuropean ChampionshipsHelsinki, Finland19th (q)Long jump6.20 m1995European Cup Combined EventsHelmond, Netherlands1stHeptathlon6,299 ptsWorld ChampionshipsGothenburg, Sweden7thHeptathlon6,299 pts1996European Indoor ChampionshipsStockholm, Sweden8thLong jump6.42 mEuropean CupMadrid, Spain4thLong jump6.66 mOlympic GamesAtlanta, United States23rd (q)Long jump6.33 m3rdHeptathlon6,489 pts1997European CupMunich, Germany4thLong jump6.56World ChampionshipsAthens, Greece2ndHeptathlon6,654 pts1998Commonwealth GamesKuala Lumpur, Malaysia1stHeptathlon6,513European ChampionshipsBudapest, Hungary1stHeptathlon6,559 pts1999World ChampionshipsSeville, Spain2ndHeptathlon6,724 pts2000Olympic GamesSydney, Australia1stHeptathlon6,584 pts2001World ChampionshipsEdmonton, Canada —Heptathlon2003European Cup Combined Events 1st LeagueTallinn, Estonia2ndHeptathlon6,282 ptsWorld ChampionshipsParis, France5thHeptathlon6,254 pts2004Olympic GamesAthens, Greece —Heptathlon

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 Wolverhampton. In 2010, she was inducted into the Wolverhampton Sporting Hall of Fame, while in 2011, she was inducted into the England Athletics Hall of Fame. In 2013, Lewis was honoured at the annual Wolverhampton Famous Sons & Daughters Awards ceremony. In 2014, she was presented with an honorary degree from the University of Wolverhampton. 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, 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. Her British and Commonwealth record of 6831 points was set on 30 July 2000 in Talence, France. Outside of her sports achievements, Lewis was included in the 2019 edition of the Powerlist, ranking the 100 most influential Black Britons.

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 and 2016 Summer Olympics. On 2 February 2015, Lewis guest hosted an episode of The One Show with Matt Baker. Lewis has also been a presenter on various non sports television programmes. In July 2015, she co hosted Right on the Money, a daytime series on BBC One, alongside Dominic Littlewood. The programme returned for a second series in July 2016. From 22 July 2011, Lewis hosted children's reality television show Camp Orange. She is a presenter of the BBC's Secret Britain (series 3 onwards) which introduced lesser known aspects of the British countryside.

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.

In October 2022, Lewis was unmasked as Sea Slug in series 2 of The Masked Dancer.

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, current manager of Liam Payne, and son of comedian Tom O'Connor. They have three sons.