Kim Betts is an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 Gymnast

Gymnastics

Gymnastics is a sport involving performance of exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, and balance. Internationally, all of the gymnastic sports are governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique with each country having its own national governing body...

, bodybuilder

Female bodybuilding

Female bodybuilding is the female component of competitive bodybuilding. It began in the late 1970s when women began to take part in bodybuilding competitions.-Beginnings:...

 and TV presenter best known as Lightning in the ITV

ITV

ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...

 show Gladiators, where she was the longest serving female star.

Gymnastics

At six years old Betts took up gymnastics after she was accepted into Lichfield

Lichfield

Lichfield is a cathedral city, civil parish and district in Staffordshire, England. One of eight civil parishes with city status in England, Lichfield is situated roughly north of Birmingham...

 Olympic Gymnastic Club. Lightning had her first competitive event when she was eight years old. In her time as a gymnast she competed all over Great Britain as well as in Bulgaria

Bulgaria

Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...

, Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

 and Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

. Between the ages of 10 and 16 she trained with the British Squad and gained 32 medals.

Weight training

After gymnastics Betts took up weight training and competed four times in the Miss Figure Bodybuilding competition and came second in the British Championship Finals. She also won the Willenhall

Willenhall

Willenhall is a town in the Black Country area of the West Midlands of England, with a population of approximately 40,000. It is situated between Wolverhampton and Walsall, historically in the county of Staffordshire...

 BB Show, Muscle Beach Open and the EFBB British Qualifier. Next came aerobics to help build up her stamina. She was a fitness instructor for eighteen months.

Gladiators

Lightning was known as one of the toughest and most determined of the UK Gladiators. Known as the 'Queen of Hang Tough', she remained undefeated in the UK Arena and was only ever beaten once, during filming of the first Ashes series in Australia. That loss happened on the first heat of the first Ashes against Australia's Kerry Warman who slid past Lightning and defeated her. Betts gave birth to a baby boy called Lexus just three weeks before competing in the Gladiators arena for the 1999 series.

Lightning appeared in every single domestic & International series bar Springbok 2, her usual attire was a leotard and sometimes sports bra and pants. She recently made a welcome return to Gladiators for the 2008 revamp in a "Legends" special, competing alongside former Gladiators Flame, Rebel, Rocket, Ace, Hunter, Trojan & Wolf as special contenders against the new Gladiators all in the aid of Charity. Lightning later returned again for a second Legends special, alongside Scorpio, Siren, Rocket, Bullitt, Cobra, Trojan & Wolf.

Personal life

As well as son Lexus, Kim and husband Francis have a daughter named Skye. The Betts family had previously moved to live in Spain but have since returned to the UK.

Recently

Betts used to be a TV Presenter for kids show Room 785

Room 785

Room 785 is a children's television programme broadcast on the BFBS 1 channel, part of the British Forces Broadcasting Service. It has a similar format to CBBC in that the presenters are in a small studio and introduce the programmes from there...

 airing on BFBS

British Forces Broadcasting Service

The British Forces Broadcasting Service provides radio and television programmes for HM Forces, and their dependents, in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Brunei, Canada, Cyprus, the Falkland Islands, Germany, Gibraltar, Kosovo, the Middle East, Northern Ireland and Tristan da Cunha as well as a live satellite...

TV which is a channel for Britain's Armed Forces around the world.

External links

• Kim Betts at IMDB