WONDERFUL Keely Hodgkinson will be bringing a shiny Olympic Games gold medal home to Atherton.

The 22-year-old Team GB poster girl lived up to her hot-favourite billing when she was first over the line in the Paris 2024 women’s 800m final in front of a capacity 73,000 Stade de France crowd tonight.

She kicked for home in the final straight to say 'see you later' to her rivals, registering 1min 56.72 secs and screaming 'yes' before welling up and breaking into tears when she had got the job done.

What a picture as Keely Hodgkinson wins the women's 800m gold medal at the Paris 2024 Olympic GamesWhat a picture as Keely Hodgkinson wins the women's 800m gold medal at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games (Image: Mike Egerton/PA Wire)

And then she couldn't hold her emotions back, the gold medal means so much to herAnd then she couldn't hold her emotions back, the gold medal means so much to her (Image: Mike Egerton/PA Wire)

There will be celebrations in households across the borough as the former Fred Longworth High School student has huge support in her hometown, Leigh and the surrounding areas, all of whom will be delighted for her greatest achievement yet.

 

Those who have been following the Leigh Harriers athlete’s career know that gold is the colour the world championships silver-medallist has been craving since bursting onto the global stage when finishing second in British record time in the Tokyo Olympics three years ago.

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Before then and since, all of her commitment and dedication to hard work has paid dividends now that she has her hands on the most special prize in sport and can declare herself an Olympic champion.

The European champion’s spellbinding victory in the French capital bore all the hallmarks of London 2012 for Jessica Ennis-Hill and Mo Farah in that she soaked up the hefty pressure of a nation’s hopes, wrapped it all up and channelled it into delivering on the biggest stage of all.

It was her third race in four days, not that you would have known such was the standard of performance on the greatest night of her life so far.

She strolled through the heats on Friday, destroyed the field as the fastest qualifier from the semi-finals last night and then really showed them who was the boss when it mattered most in the medals decider 24 hours later.

On a clear Monday evening in Paris she was calm and collected, moving up from fifth to first on the first lap and then led all the way to the finish line in 1:56.72.

Ethiopia’s Tsige Duguma surged to silver in 1:57.15, while Kenya’s world champion Mary Moraa collected bronze after having been on Hodgkinson's shoulder until the finishing straight.

Three summers ago in Tokyo, a then 19-year-old Hodgkinson stormed to a surprise silver, breaking a British record held by Dame Kelly Holmes for 26 years.

A new Olympic champion was always guaranteed this time around after Hodgkinson’s biggest rival, American Athing Mu, fell in the United States trials and did not qualify.

Since Tokyo, Hodgkinson had finished runner-up at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, and back-to-back World Championships, also claiming two European titles.

The silver streak came to an end on Monday night, when the Manchester United fan became the first British woman to win an Olympic 800m title since Holmes reached the top of the podium in Athens 20 years ago – not long after Hodgkinson was born.

Hodgkinson headed to Paris in superlative form, having improved her own British record when winning a Diamond League meeting in London last month.

And more brilliant news is that she is young enough to take us on the journey with her again for another two or three Olympic Games cycles!