Strictly's Montell Douglas shares hospital dash incident that saw her ...

Former Olympic athlete Montell Douglas is vying for a spot in the next round of this year's Strictly Come Dancing after wowing the judges and audiences alike.

The 38-year-old made history two years ago by becoming the first British woman to compete in both the Summer and Winter Olympics. Following her participation in the 100m sprint and 4x100m relay at the 2008 Beijing Olympics - where she set a British record of 11.05 seconds in the former - she transitioned to bobsleigh in 2016 and competed in the 2022 Winter Games, also held in Beijing.

Currently, Douglas is perhaps best known for her role as Fire in the BBC's revamped Gladiators, with fans of the show cheering her on alongside professional partner Johannes Radebe. However, Douglas has tended to keep her personal life out of the spotlight, leaving many to wonder about her life beyond her athletic pursuits.

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The former Olympian has spoken candidly about her health struggles, revealing earlier this year that she experiences severe period pains that have significantly impacted her life and even led to a hospital visit due to the pain, reports Wales Online.

In April 2021, the "excruciating" pain caused her to "convulse and pass out multiple times" in what she described as a "really traumatic" and "very scary" incident that left her fearing for her life. "I don't know why that day in particular was worse than others, but it was horrendous," she shared with 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 further 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."

Earlier this year, while appearing on Good Morning Britain, she described that incident as a "wake-up call". After undergoing 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 is 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."

Strictly Come Dancing is on BBC One and BBC iPlayer