by Stuart Weir
800 gold for Keely
Keely Hodgkinson came to Paris with an Olympic silver medal and two world championship silver medals but no global titles. A win tonight in Paris means she is Olympic Champion, her first global title. There in an old cliché in sport about who wants it more. With 150m to go there was little between Keely and Mary Moraa but Keely seemed the stronger. The final result was:
1 Keely Hodgkinson 1.56.72
2 Tsige Duguma 1:57.15
3 Mary Moraa 1:57.42
It was a race in which 1:58.79 only got you eighth place.
Hodgkinson is a superb athlete. She can win championship races, follow pace-makers, and win in quick times—like last month’s 1:54.61 in London. She has run nine times at 800 this year and has won them all. The absent Athing Mu would have had to run some race to beat her tonight.
Keely said afterwards: “That was absolutely incredible. I’ve worked so hard over the last year and you could see how much it meant to me as I crossed the line. I can’t believe I’ve finally done it. It means so much to me. And to do it here, where better? The audience was absolutely incredible, it felt like a home crowd to me. So I’m super happy.
“I wanted to be up near the front anyway, probably quicker after the first lap, but doing the semi-final and the final back to back everyone was tired. It’s tough. I trusted myself, I could feel Mary coming at me down the back straight. But I showed composure and I got to the line first this time. I had a cheeky look at the screen just to make sure but you can’t do anything until you cross that line. I’m now the Olympic champion for the next four years and nobody can take that away from me.
“I feel like I’ve really grown over the last couple of years and this year is the year I’ve really tried to make that step up. The other girls are incredible. I knew to cross that line first I had to go one better than I ever had. I’m just so pleased to do it today. The future is bright. I’ve seen all the support from home, I’ve seen people messaging me and I haven’t got back to everyone yet but I will do and I’ve seen it all. It couldn’t feel more amazing to that have support. I’m super happy to bring it home for everyone. It’s not just me, it’s a whole team effort and they know who they are. This is our gold medal”.
Before the Games there were hopes of three in the final and even three British medals. The reality is that Keely is absolute world class, Jemma Reekie is a very good athlete and Phoebe Gill is a great prospect. Keely is a different class.
