Paris, Aug 6 :Britain\u2019s Keely Hodgkinson said becoming women\u2019s Olympic 800m champion on Monday after a succession of silver medals in major finals was a \u201clife changer\u201d.
\nThe 22-year-old produced a thrilling gun-to-tape run to win, ending any fears she would be a runner-up once again.
\nHodgkinson took silver in the Tokyo Olmypics three years ago followed by finishing second in the 2022 and 2023 world championships as well as in the Commonwealth Games two years ago.
\nShe said that even an hour after her impressive victory at a packed Stade de France her achievement had yet to \u201csink in\u201d.
\n\u201cIt changed my life last time,\u201d she said referring to her silver in Tokyo.
\n\u201cSo it is (life changing). I think being the champion, no one can ever take that away from me. Just to come away with that is incredible.
\n\u201cI don\u2019t know what it will bring, but I think I\u2019m a lot better prepared for it than I was last time in Tokyo.\u201d
\nHodgkinson timed 1min 56.72sec for victory, with Ethiopian Tsige Duguma claiming silver in 1:57.15 and Kenya\u2019s Mary Moraa taking bronze (1:57.42).
\nShe said that the pressure was definitely there after the several silvers.
\n\u201cYeah, 100 percent,\u201d she said about feeling the pressure.
\n\u201cThe British, they love their Olympics. After what I did in London (a personal best last month), I knew that cemented me as a favourite.
\n\u201cNothing is guaranteed. You see favourites go out, medal contenders. It\u2019s so, so difficult. It\u2019s so cut-throat in sport.\u201d
\nHodgkinson, who had family in the stadium including her parents Dean and Rachel, said she had used a psychologist as one of several measures to get her in the right groove.
\n\u201cTo deliver on a big stage is super, super tough, and I respect anyone who\u2019s done it,\u201d she said.
\n\u201cIt definitely was different, and it\u2019s definitely taken a different mental approach.
\n\u201cI\u2019ve used my psychologist a bit more at these championships, and just doing what I can to get the job done.
\n\u201cBut yeah, we\u2019re here, and we\u2019ve done it now, and I\u2019m super happy.\u201d
\nHodgkinson said she had tried to shut out thoughts of her rivals bearing down on her.
\n\u201cI can\u2019t control what they do,\u201d said Hodgkinson. \u201cAs long as I cross the line, knowing that I\u2019d give absolutely everything, that\u2019s all I could be happy with, that was whatever the result was.
\n\u201cBut I think I knew I\u2019d be hard to beat today, and she (Moraa) was going to have to do something special.\u201d
\nHodgkinson set a personal best just prior to the Games of 1:54.61 and says her sights are on trying to break the 41-year-old world record of Jarmila Kratochvilova (1:53.28).
\n\u201cIt\u2019s definitely another goal,\u201d she said. \u201cWhether it comes off or not, like I say, nothing is guaranteed.
\n\u201cI\u2019d love to give it a good go. I feel like there is more in there.\u201d
\nHodgkinson becomes the third British woman to win Olympic 800m gold after Anne Packer in 1964 and Kelly Holmes in 2004.
\nHolmes was in the crowd although Hodgkinson said the 2004 champion was finding it hard to keep her language clean.
\n\u201cShe was just jumping up and down, trying not to swear,\u201d said Hodgkinson.
\n\u201cShe\u2019s super nice. I love her energy. You can tell that she\u2019s a champion. I just really wanted to emulate what she did.
\n\u201cThe Kelly and the Keely coming together.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Paris, Aug 6 :Britain\u2019s Keely Hodgkinson said becoming women\u2019s Olympic 800m champion on Monday after a succession of silver medals in major finals was a \u201clife changer\u201d. The 22-year-old produced a thrilling gun-to-tape run to win, ending any fears she would be a runner-up once […]<\/p>\n
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