KELLY HOLMES’ eyes open wide, a grin spreading across her face. “Oh my god it went viral!” she exclaims. “How big is it now?” she asks her assistant. “Over 800,000 views maybe? It’s ridiculous.”

The double Olympic champion is chattering excitedly about a recent video she posted online. In it she’s seen jogging back through the park course run she has just completed, greeting and encouraging those runners still winding their way to the finishing line. There are high fives, fist bumps and the occasional double take as runners belatedly place a name to the familiar face.

Holmes’ surprise at the reaction to the video stems not from the extent of its popularity on social media – she chronicles just about every aspect of her life on Instagram, including singing in the bath - but because this gesture wasn’t anything out of the ordinary for her.

“I haven’t done loads of park runs but in 80 per cent of them I do that anyway,” she reveals. “I just go back and cheer everyone on. It was just a natural thing for me. I couldn’t believe how much people took from it as I didn’t see it as unusual. That’s just me.

“I’m going to get the park run organisers to make it a rule that everyone who finishes in the top 10 gets a bib and has to go back through the field and cheer the rest on. Right, that’s it. I’m on a mission now to make that happen!”

That episode and her subsequent retelling of it sums up Holmes well; enthusiastic, determined, and, most significantly, empathetic and able to relate to people.

When we meet at a Glasgow hotel, she is dressed to the nines ahead of her appearance as the guest speaker at Action for Children’s annual charity sports dinner. Earlier in a typically busy day she had been across the city at Glasgow University to deliver a talk on her stellar athletics career – including the two golds she memorably claimed at the Athens Olympics in 2004 – but also the subsequent struggles with her mental health.

Holmes has been disarmingly honest on that matter, admitting she used to self-harm during the darker moments in her life. It is that candour that imbues her words on the subject with additional gravitas when she shares her experiences with others. Her audiences are always receptive.

“I talk a lot about mental health awareness,” she says. “The whole point of opening up and speaking about this is to try to normalise life and to admit that it’s not always great. Sometimes it can be brilliant and there are great things to get excited about. And then other times when, unfortunately, life hits us like a ton of bricks.

“So I think it’s important for me to tell my story as openly and honestly as possible so that when I’m talking to people it becomes just a normal conversation. It’s not about me keeping some bits hidden away and skimming over subjects I don’t want to talk about.

“This is what my life is, warts and all. And there are probably loads of people in the room who are also suffering and I’m telling them if you feel like that it’s okay to talk about it.”

Holmes vigorously shakes her head at the idea that those in the public eye have any obligation to talk about their problems. She does so voluntarily.

“I don’t think I owe it to anyone to speak about this. I'm just who I am. We’re all human. If someone succeeds in a career that’s in the public eye then there’s an image that they must be special. That’s not true.

“They’ve just had a talent that they’ve taken to a high level and performing that talent is the side of them that people see. So having figures in the public eye talk about coping with their struggles with all the scrutiny on them hopefully lets other people realise they can deal with it too.

“I first started talking about this stuff in 2005 when I wrote my autobiography so it’s not new for me. It’s just now that more people are listening.”

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It is easier for Holmes to open up now that she is retired. Mental health is not the taboo it once was but she can understand why current athletes might not wish to reveal any degree of vulnerability.

“Back when I was a top athlete I didn’t talk about [mental health]. I was injured so much so there were always tears so everyone just thought it was painful rather than emotional. Now in sport we have a platform for people to talk. But there has to be a balance at the top level.

“You can’t afford the opposition to have a different opinion of you. Your mindset starts to change if you know that they know you might be struggling. You start to worry you’re not as good, even if that’s completely not true.

“Athletes might not want to open up entirely in case they don’t get selected for events or sponsors make a fuss over it.

“But people who are more honest about themselves tend to produce better performances. Had I been able to talk to someone at the time of my first major breakdown in 2003 then maybe I would have coped with being injured a bit better than I did rather than just keeping it to myself.”

Holmes subscribes to the ideology that movement is medicine. At 49 she looks in terrific shape, by some distance the fittest person in the room. The bulging biceps that were the abiding image from Athens aren’t quite as prominent these days but you still wouldn’t fancy your chances in an arm wrestle. Keeping fit is still important to her but for the mental benefits as much as the physical ones.

“More and more people are wanting to keep active for how it makes them feel. Social interaction – doing a park run, going to a gym with mates or joining a jogging group – is about feeling good and being more comfortable in a situation. Fitness and therapy are the two main ways of starting the process of self-help.

“If you have that combination where everyone is there to get healthy but it’s also fun, nobody cares what you look like or how fast you go, then that’s so important.”

And does she still care how fast she goes? Another smile. “I always say that I don’t but I clearly still have a bit of a competitive edge. Mainly for myself. I always think I could do better. And then I look at the things I’m doing like drinking gin and tonic and eating rubbish sometimes and then I realise why!

“But I’m not looking to achieve anything these days so it’s about getting a balance. And I enjoy what I do. I like to keep fit so I can pass a positive message on to other people.”

She seems in good spirits as she heads along the corridor to meet the guests as they arrive for dinner. “I’ve always had fun memories of racing in Scotland so it’s nice to be back. I hear the people here like to have a good time. And I do as well.”

- Dame Kelly Holmes was speaking ahead of Action for Children’s 16th annual Sports Dinner, sponsored by Scottish Friendly. The event has raised almost £1m to support the charity’s work in Scotland. For more information visit www.actionforchildren.org.uk