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 There in an outdated cliché in sport about who needs it extra. With 150m to go there was little between Keely and Mary Moraa however Keely appeared the stronger. The ultimate end result was:
1 Keely Hodgkinson 1.56.72
2 Tsige Duguma 1:57.15
3 Mary Moraa 1:57.42
It was a race through which 1:58.79 solely received you eighth place.
Hodgkinson is an excellent athlete. She will be able to win championship races, observe pace-makers, and win in fast instances—like final month’s 1:54.61 in London. She has run 9 instances at 800 this yr 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 unimaginable. I’ve labored so laborious over the past yr and you would see how a lot it meant to me as I crossed the road. I can’t consider I’ve lastly finished it. It means a lot to me. And to do it right here, the place higher? The viewers was completely unimaginable, it felt like a house crowd to me. So I’m tremendous completely satisfied.
“I wished 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 robust. I trusted myself, I might really feel Mary coming at me down the again straight. However I confirmed composure and I received to the road first this time. I had a cheeky have a look at the display screen simply to ensure however you’ll be able to’t do something till you cross that line. I’m now the Olympic champion for the subsequent 4 years and no person can take that away from me.
“I really feel like I’ve actually grown over the past couple of years and this yr is the yr I’ve actually tried to make that step up. The opposite women are unimaginable. 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 vibrant. I’ve seen all of the assist from house, I’ve seen individuals messaging me and I haven’t received again to everybody but however I’ll do and I’ve seen all of it. It couldn’t really feel extra superb to which have assist. I’m tremendous completely satisfied to convey it house for everybody. It’s not simply me, it’s a complete workforce effort they usually 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 truth is that Keely is absolute world class, Jemma Reekie is an excellent athlete and Phoebe Gill is a good prospect. Keely is a distinct class.
