Keely Hodgkinson secured her status as Team GB‘s golden girl by becoming only the third British woman to win the 800m as she claimed gold at the Paris Olympics.
The 22-year-old dominated the final in Paris to end her wait for a first global title by beating Ethiopia‘s Tsige Duguma and long-term rival Kenyan runner Mary Moraa.
Victory saw Hodgkinson become only the 10th British woman to win an athletics gold medal at the Olympics – and the first since Jessica Ennis-Hill in 2012, with the medal ceremony giving her the moment to celebrate the sensational success.
Hodgkinson’s inspirational Olympic gold places her in esteemed company as the world No.1 emulated the accomplishments of Kelly Holmes in 2004 and Ann Packer in 1964.
Now the former Team GB heroes have given their verdict on Hodgkinson’s win and what the rising star can expect next.
Keely Hodgkinson secured her status as Team GB’s golden girl by becoming only the third British woman to win the 800m
Hodgkinson dominated the 800m final in Paris on Monday to win a first global title
DAME KELLY HOLMES: People hung out of windows to see me after Athens… I hope track queen Keely is ready to feel like a pop star!
Keely is probably not ready for what will happen to her after that fabulous run to win 800 metres gold.
I might be biased, but athletics has always been the premier sport of the Olympics — and Keely handled that pressure, as well as being the favourite and the fastest woman in the world this year over that distance.
Everyone’s hopes were resting on Keely and she delivered, becoming only the third British woman to win Olympic 800m gold — and I had been the most recent, all the way back in 2004!
Keely was known and respected but, unless you’re an athletics fan, you wouldn’t necessarily have understood the calibre of athlete she is before Monday. She is a new name to a lot of people but with the profile of the Olympics and the sport, it’s going to catapult her into a new sphere.
Athletes generally don’t like celebrity, but they do like to be well known for what they’ve done in their sport. Winning Olympic gold will change the way people see Keely.
She’s going to go on holiday now but I don’t think Keely knows the kind of attention that she and her family will receive when they come back to the UK.
Hodgkinson delivered on her pre-race favourite status to win a brilliant Olympic gold
Dame Kelly Holmes (left) spent time with Hodgkinson before the Games got underway
Holmes became a double Olympic gold medal winner in track events at the 2004 Olympics
When I returned home from Athens as a double Olympic champion in 2004, people were stopping on the motorway, hanging out of windows and cars. It was like I was this big pop star. It was mental and I thought people had gone crazy.
Keely’s going to get that twofold because social media has come into play, whereas it wasn’t when I was an athlete.
She’s just got to stay grounded with her friends and family and the people that have been with her since day dot. That’s the most important thing.
Holmes’ success in Athens earned her a meeting with Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace
I’ve been telling her that she needs a really strong team behind her and to take everything as it comes, but she’s got to enjoy the moment as well.
I hope she celebrates when she gets home — and she had better invite me to the party!
ANN PACKER: They said the 800m wasn’t for ladies in my day… just imagine telling Keely that!
Congratulations to Keely. That was just fantastic. With all that pressure, she delivered and showed she was in a different class.
It has been 60 years since I won the 800 metres gold and that was another life for me. We have seen Kelly Holmes take it on and now Keely has pushed it forward again. I loved watching it.
If I think back to Tokyo in 1964, I had actually gone there to compete in the 400m.
I had gone in as the fastest in the world that year and broke the Olympic record in the first two rounds, but lost to the better girl on the day in the final, Betty Cuthbert from Australia.
Ann Packer won Team GB gold in the women’s 800m at the Tokyo Olympics in 1964
Packer (middle) admitted there were people who didn’t think the 800m event was for women back in her racing days
The 800m started the next day and I think I had only done a tiny amount of races at that distance, maybe two, so I didn’t have any great expectations — I had no idea about the tactics, but I knew I had a good sprint finish and wanted to give it a try. I actually set a world record in the final and it was a wonderful time in my life.
The 800m was still a new event at the time. There were people who thought it wasn’t for ladies — too much perspiring and puffing. Imagine if they tried to say that to Keely now! What a star she is.
Winning that gold medal looked like it meant so much to her and it meant so much to me as well. It was a different time in the sport, but we were seriously committed. I was a teacher at the time and would get to the track before school to train, but athletes weren’t quite treated the same. It’s the way it was.
Hodgkinson will now be presented with plenty of endorsement deals following her gold medal success
I remember when I won I had endorsement work from Heinz — ‘Golden girl, golden beans’ — and Bovril.
It wasn’t like it will be on Wednesday, but I was very happy. The Bovril endorsement helped me and my husband (the late Robbie Brightwell, who captained the British athletics team) to furnish our home.
Prizes around the circuit, outside of the Olympics, were very different — I would win various tea sets and saucepans and Pyrex dishes! I am quite sure it will be different for Keely and I am so happy for her.
She is such a beautiful runner and she makes it look so easy, but we all know so much work has gone into doing that. She really was a class apart and I am just beyond delighted for her.
