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podcast
Annoushka Ducas:
Being an Olympic gold medalist in one discipline takes talent, courage and resilience. Being
an Olympic gold medalist in an event that requires brilliance in seven of them is utterly
awe-inspiring. My guest this week found athletics when she was eight, and she was instantly smitten.
Displaying extraordinary commitment and determination from the word go, striking gold with a
historic win at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, an OBE, an ambassador for many charities, a cheerleader
for girls' participation in sport. She is also a mother of four children. I'm so thrilled to welcome
the amazing Denise Lewis
to My Life In
Seven Charms.
Annoushka Ducas:
Hi, Denise. So happy to have you here. So your first
charm, when I asked you to do this, you weren't sure what it should
be, but you said I want it to symbolize all the women in your life who have been so important, your
mother and your grandmother. So I kind of really thought about this and thought gosh, that's not
that easy, actually. But I love the idea of women helping each other along, and so I've drawn this
as two hands holding each other and kind of almost supporting each other and pulling each other
along and helping out. So I'd seen this as carved, three-dimensional, I think it should be in
18 carat yellow gold.
It's always good to have a ring, never bad to
have a ring on the finger. And I thought a few diamonds round the
wrist. But on the back, I thought it'd be really lovely to
engrave the names of the
people who have been so important in your life, so your mother and your grandmother. And so that's
how I'd seen it. But I'd really love to know more about why you've chosen this particular idea for
the charm.
Denise Lewis:
Well, Annoushka, I have to say you've created something beyond my wildest dreams, but very
fitting to illustrate the fabulous women that I do have in my life. So the reason I really went for
this charm is because women have been such a central part of my life, my mother, grandmother,
great-grandmother, but also the friends that I've acquired along the way. At really critical times
in my life, there's always been a
woman supporting me,