BBC Strictly's Montell Douglas was rushed to hospital after 'traumatic ...

Former Olympic sprinter and bobsledder Montell Douglas is hoping to make it through to another week on this year's Strictly Come Dancing after impressing the judges and viewers at home.

The 38-year-old made history two years ago by becoming the first British woman to compete in both the Summer and Winter Olympics. After taking part in the 100m sprint and 4x100m relay in Beijing in 2008 - setting a British record of 11.05 seconds in the former - she took up bobsleigh in 2016 and made it to the 2022 Winter Games, which were also held in the Chinese capital.

Today, Douglas is perhaps best known for her role as Fire in the BBC's reboot of Gladiators, with fans of the show cheering her on alongside professional partner Johannes Radebe. However, not too much is known about Douglas who has tended to keep her personal life out of the spotlight. Here are some things you might not know about the Strictly star.

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'Traumatic' incident and hospital dash

The former Olympian has spoken candidly about her health challenges, disclosing earlier this year that she struggles with severe period pains that have had a huge impact on life and even seen her rushed to hospital in pain.

In April 2021, the "excruciating" pain left her "convulsing and passing out multiple times" in what she has described as a "really traumatic" and "very scary" incident that left her wondering if she was going to die.

“I don’t know why that day in particular was worse than others, but it was horrendous," she told the Daily Express. "I was at home on my own in ­excruciating pain. I took a painkiller and it didn’t kick in, so I took another and again it didn’t kick in.

“I ended up profusely sweating, having dizzy spells, passing out – I blacked out quite a few times. I rang my partner at the time, I rang my mum because I was very scared. “I rang an ambulance to come and get me and I was hospitalised. The nurse just looked at me and said, ‘you must be in absolute agony’.

Douglas added: "It was almost like the trauma of the pain had sent my body into shock. It was a very scary time for me. I literally at one point I was messaging my mum saying, ‘I don’t know if I’m going to make it, it’s just so bad’. I was convulsing and passing out multiple times. I didn’t know if I was going to wake up again, just from the pain.

“My body couldn’t regulate its temperature and I became dehydrated, which probably made things worse. It sounds so unbelievable when you tell people that you were unconscious just because you had period pains.”

Appearing on Good Morning Britain earlier this year, she described that incident as a "wake-up call" and, after undergoing a a contraceptive implant procedure to help alleviate her period pain, Douglas has now partnered with Bupa to raise awareness about the condition.

"I'm going to be really honest about it as I think it's something we really need to talk about more the agonising pain," she said. "Not many people and not all women will experience the same thing.

"It can be really defeating, there have been times in my sporting career and also being doubled over with pain, lying doubled over in pain in bed, or if I've made it to the track to train I'm just lying on the floor. The waves are so intense, not only are you focusing on what you're trying to do, which is always high level, it's very distracting.

"Often, I can't actually do the task I'm meant to do so I can't do a duel, I can't run, the pain of doing my sport is bad enough without having to think about that and challenge that."

Split from boyfriend

Little is known about Douglas' personal life, but ahead of her appearance on Strictly, she revealed that she had split from her boyfriend at the start of the year.

However, while she is now single, she played down talk of falling victim to the BBC show's infamous 'curse' which has seen a number of previous contestants fall for their professional dance partners.

“I am single and very much not mingling because I don’t have the time," she said. “There are so many things to think about with dancing.

Douglas added that her dance partner Johannes is "the only man in my life," as she said: "He ticks every box that I could want anyway.”