DOUBLE Olympic champion Dame Kelly Holmes believes Pendle's Laura Finucane could yet gatecrash the Olympic party and book a surprise place on the plane to Beijing.

Holmes' comments came after she presented the 21-year-old with an award for her achievements on the mentoring scheme On Camp with Kelly' at the Norwich Union School Sport Matters Awards.

Finucane is currently fifth in the 800m British rankings, but in a year that has seen her consistently record times inside the UK Target of 2:02.07 and reach the European under 23 final, Holmes believes the Colne-born youngster is on the up.

Holmes said: "When Laura first came to South Africa she was a 400m runner who used to do three minutes of training before a race and three minutes after. I had some words with her and said Look if you want to move up to 800m you need to start training,' she took it on board and now goes for one-hour long runs on a regular basis.

"She has also started clocking times of 2.01 and in the coming months will definitely be one to watch out for."

The Pendle AC runner has vowed to break the two-minute barrier next year in a bid to reward Holmes' faith and reach her ultimate goal - the Olympics.

"Kelly is the best role model I could have," said Finucane. "She is always there by email or phone call whenever I need her."