DOUBLE Olympic champion Dame Kelly Holmes has returned to her military roots with a ride on a Challenger 2 tank.

She was driven around the Army's armoured warfare centre in Bovington to mark her appointment as honorary colonel of the Royal Corps Training Regiment.

Dame Kelly was presented with a scroll marking the occasion by Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson.

She spent 10 years in the Army before turning to athletics full-time and winning double gold at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

"This is a massive honour for me. You cannot underestimate how much my military career has led me to this point and it was dream of mine when I was 14 to join the military," Dame Kelly said.

"I joined when I was 18 years of age and it is one of the best things I have ever done, and it has made me who I am.

"As an international athlete, it was my military career that saw me through the ups and the downs and made me push to be the best I can be and never give up on my dreams.

"As your honorary colonel, I will do the best in my role to lead by example and to help you to be the best that you can be."

Mr Williamson, who also had a ride on a Challenger 2, said the day marked a "an exceptional honour for an exceptional person".

"[Dame Kelly] has achieved so much through determination, a will to succeed and a desire to show the world what she is made of, and to do it in such extraordinary style, I have no doubt will act as an inspiration to so many in the future," he said.