800 gold for Keely
Keely Hodgkinson got here to Paris with an Olympic silver medal and two world championship silver medals however no international titles. A win tonight in Paris means she is Olympic Champion, her first international title. There in an outdated cliché in sport about who desires it extra. With 150m to go there was little between Keely and Mary Moraa however Keely appeared the stronger. The ultimate outcome was:
1 Keely Hodgkinson 1.56.72
2 Tsige Duguma 1:57.15
3 Mary Moraa 1:57.42
It was a race by which 1:58.79 solely bought you eighth place.
Hodgkinson is an excellent athlete. She will win championship races, observe pace-makers, and win in fast occasions—like final month’s 1:54.61 in London. She has run 9 occasions at 800 this 12 months and has gained all of them. The absent Athing Mu would have needed to run some race to beat her tonight.
Keely mentioned afterwards: “That was completely unbelievable. I’ve labored so laborious over the past 12 months and you may see how a lot it meant to me as I crossed the road. I can’t consider I’ve lastly carried out it. It means a lot to me. And to do it right here, the place higher? The viewers was completely unbelievable, it felt like a house crowd to me. So I’m tremendous joyful.
“I needed to be up close to the entrance anyway, in all probability faster after the primary lap, however doing the semi-final and the ultimate again to again everybody was drained. It’s powerful. I trusted myself, I might really feel Mary coming at me down the again straight. However I confirmed composure and I bought to the road first this time. I had a cheeky have a look at the display screen simply to verify however you possibly can’t do something till you cross that line. I’m now the Olympic champion for the following 4 years and no one can take that away from me.
“I really feel like I’ve actually grown over the past couple of years and this 12 months is the 12 months I’ve actually tried to make that step up. The opposite women are unbelievable. I knew to cross that line first I needed to go one higher than I ever had. I’m simply so happy to do it as we speak. The long run is vivid. I’ve seen all of the assist from house, I’ve seen individuals messaging me and I haven’t bought again to everybody but however I’ll do and I’ve seen all of it. It couldn’t really feel extra wonderful to which have assist. I’m tremendous joyful to deliver it house for everybody. It’s not simply me, it’s an entire workforce effort and so they know who they’re. That is our gold medal”.
Earlier than the Video games there have been hopes of three within the closing and even three British medals. The fact is that Keely is absolute world class, Jemma Reekie is an excellent athlete and Phoebe Gill is a superb prospect. Keely is a special class.
