KEELGOOD FACTOR
Keely Hodgkinson emulates Kelly Holmes to clinch Team GB’s 12TH gold with 800m victory at Paris 2024 OIympics
Wigan speedster has the talent to dominate the sport
KEELY HODGKINSON is the fashionista who now owns the ultimate accessory - an Olympic gold medal.
The 22-year-old from Lancashire stormed to 800m glory in the Stade de France and is now blinged up to the eyeballs.
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Hodgkinson, who loves Louis Vuitton handbags and Chanel sunglasses, had won three major silvers in the past three summers but has never been satisfied with second-best.
And finally she seized the big one, holding off Ethiopian Tsige Duguma and world champion Mary Moraa of Kenya to claim an emphatic victory.
Hodgkinson has promised herself a sporty beige Porsche if she won gold here in Paris - and even that motor would struggle to cover half a mile much quicker than its prospective new owner.
The former criminology student from Wigan has made off with the booty as she emulated a small band of British sisters to have won Olympic athletics gold - including Jess Ennis-Hill, Kelly Holmes and Sally Gunnell.
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Hodgkinson won a surprise silver medal as a teenager at the Tokyo Olympics and was runner-up again over two laps at the two subsequent World Championships.
But unlike some British Olympians who are content with silver or bronze, Hodgkinson possesses a steely determination, often well disguised by a breezy likeable personality.
The Manchester United fan, who lives near Old Trafford, was hampered by a freakish knee injury last winter but had returned to top form in time for her tilt at history in the French capital.
There had only been nine previous British women to have won Olympic golds and none since Ennis-Hill, the woman who inspired the young Keely to get into track and field by winning heptathlon gold at London 2012.
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Holmes was the last Brit to have won this event as part of her golden double in Athens two decades ago, when Hodgkinson was just a toddler.
So this was a rare mission for the top of the podium and Team GB bosses were hoping Hodgkinson might start a medal rush at the Stade de France.
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Josh Kerr goes for gold against his great rival Jakob Ingebrigtsen in the 1,500m on Tuesday night, with Dina Asher-Smith and Daryll Neita through to the women’s 200m final and Matt Hudson-Smith a serious hope for Wednesday’s men’s 400m.
Hodgkinson had smashed her own British record in London a fortnight ago - more than two seconds quicker than any other woman had clocked over the distance this year - and qualified fastest for the final with a front-running masterclass in Sunday’s semi.
One of her chief rivals for gold, Team GB team-mate Jemma Reekie, had failed to make the final in a surprise flop on Sunday night, likewise 17-year-old Brit Phoebe Gill.
But for Hodgkinson, all seemed smooth and serene - the Brit even insisting she’d been sleeping like a baby for ten hours per night since arriving in France.
This was the night she said she’d been thinking about every day since her silver medal behind Moraa in the World Championships in Budapest last year.
She arrived unbeaten over 800m this year and driven by a sense of destiny.
Last to be announced onto the track she strolled to the start line as if she was going out on a shopping trip without a care in the world.
Normally ahead from the off, the Brit hit the front after 250m and took the bell ahead.
Moraa, her greatest rival was on her shoulder all the way to the final bend, when she kicked for home and extended her lead as Duguma overtook Moraa for silver.
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The winning time of 1min 56.72sec was more than two seconds outside her best but Hodgkinson could not give a stuff.
She is an Olympic champion and has the world at her feet.
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