Has Olympics legend Dame Denise Lewis’ 18-year marriage to leading music mogul reached the finish line?

Olympic gold medalist Dame Denise Lewis has split from her music mogul Steve Finan, The Mail on Sunday has learned.

The couple, who met at the Brit Awards, are said to have split in recent months after 18 years of marriage.

Friends say Mr Finan, who was the late Liam Payne’s manager for seven years, has moved from the family home in Buckinghamshire where the couple lived with their three sons.

The split is well known within the music industry, where the 60-year-old Finan is considered something of a “heavyweight.”

A source told The Mail on Sunday: ‘It’s such a shame because they are both lovely people and have always been considered a great couple.

Denise Lewis speaks out during coverage of the Olympic Games in August.

‘Despite their efforts to make it work, Steve and Denise found themselves drifting apart.

“In the end, they decided that breaking up was probably the wisest thing to do.”

The glamorous heptathlete, 51, who is chairman of British Athletics, did not wear her wedding ring during her stint as a pundit for the BBC’s coverage of the Summer Olympics.

She and Mr. Finan also no longer follow each other on social media.

Both were left devastated by Liam’s death last month after he fell from a third-floor hotel balcony in Buenos Aires.

Mr Finan was part of the team that shaped Liam’s solo career after he split from One Direction, and Ms Lewis – who was promoted to Dame status last year for her services to sport – was very close to the singer.

The couple supported him through his divorce from Cheryl Tweedy and his problems with drugs.

Liam, 31, was a regular visitor to their home in Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, and later bought a country house less than a mile away.

Ten days ago, Ms Lewis shared an emotional tribute to the star with a collection of photos of the couple over the years – and wrote that his ‘dark storms’ are now over. She also thanked the singer for “being so sweet” to her children and said he was “loved more than you can imagine.”

Ms Lewis first met Mr Finan, the son of comedian Tom O’Connor, through mutual friends at the Brit Awards in 2000, when he was then a pop manager looking after Neneh Cherry, Madness and All Saints.

They met again after she split from Belgian sprinter Patrick Stevens, the father of her daughter Lauryn, and started dating.

Ms Lewis, who appeared on BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing in 2005, has spoken about her relationship with Mr Finan.

Ahead of the couple’s wedding in 2006, she confessed, “I was still with Patrick when I first met Steve, and recently we met again and it was kind of love at second sight.”

Denise Lewis attended The Sun Who Cares Wins Awards at The Roundhouse, London in September 2023

Mr Finan (L) pictured with the late Liam Payne. Liam, 31, was a regular visitor to the couple’s home in Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, and later bought a country house less than a mile away

In 2017, in honor of their 11th wedding anniversary, Lewis wrote on Instagram: “Thank you to all my friends and family who have been there for us through the good times and the not so easy, but the biggest thank you goes to my ‘Man of Steel’.” ..it’s a fun job, you like a challenge.’

A year later, Mr. Finan said in an interview, when Mrs. Lewis was pregnant with the couple’s third child, “Denise is a wonderful mother and she loves babies.” I told her that she has to open a delivery room if she wants more.”

Ms Lewis is one of Britain’s most decorated athletes.

She won the gold medal in the heptathlon at the Sydney Olympics in 2000 and bronze in the same competition four years earlier in Atlanta.

When contacted about the break-up of her marriage, Mrs. Lewis declined to comment but did not deny their separation.

Neither Mr. Finan nor a spokeswoman for Ms. Lewis responded when given the opportunity to comment.