Keely Hodgkinson ran with the weight of Great Britain’s expectations on her shoulders and yet won the Olympic 800m title at the Stade de France.
The Wigan global silver medalist was a heavy favourite not only for Monday night’s final, but also for these Games, having set a world-leading time of 1:54.61 just over two weeks before what had increasingly felt like a dance with destiny. On a clear Monday evening in Paris, she remained calm and controlled, advancing from fifth to first on the final circuit and crossing the finish line in 1:56.72.
Ethiopia’s Tsige Duguma won silver in 1:57.15, while Kenya’s world champion Mary Moraa finished third. Three summers ago, at Tokyo, Hodgkinson, then 19, swept to a surprising silver medal, smashing Dame Kelly Holmes’ 26-year British record.
A new Olympic champion was always certain after Hodgkinson’s main competitor, American Athing Mu, failed to qualify in the US trials. Since Tokyo, Hodgkinson has come second at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games and back-to-back World Championships, but has won two European titles.
On Monday, Hodgkinson, a Manchester United fan, became the first British woman to win an Olympic 800m championship since Holmes, who did so in Athens 20 years ago, just after her birth.
Hodgkinson appeared poised and in control from the outset, effortlessly maintaining her lead down the final straight. During a lap of honour, she grabbed a union flag, hugged World Athletics president Sebastian Coe, and high-fived admirers.
Speaking at the track, she remarked, “I’m very thrilled… I am now the Olympic champion for the next four years, and nobody can take it away from me.” Hodgkinson, from Atherton in Wigan, had been aiming for gold after finishing second in Tokyo three years ago and lately breaking a national record.
