Keely Hodgkinson turned on the afterburners and surged to an Olympic 800m triumph years in the making, writes RIATH Al-SAMARRAI

After all that silver and all those near misses, the golden smile of an Olympic champion came Monday night. Over the 800 meters, Keely Hodgkinson became the tallest, brightest and most magnificent tower in Paris.

First she dominated the field, then she tortured it, leaving seven women and countless labels in her wake before wrapping her outstretched arms around a glorious new status: the queen of British sport.

And how beautiful it was, this journey of redemption that lasted one minute, 56 seconds and fractions of change.

That wasn’t a world record, nor was it a personal best. It was actually just a step better than her semi-final and a few seconds slower than what she ran in London two months ago.

And yet it was enough, and enough is all. Because enough is a job well done, and on the biggest night of her young life, in an Olympic final, a job well done was beating Ethiopia’s Tsige Duguma by 0.43 sec and world champion Mary Moraa by another 0.27 sec.

At 800 metres tall, Keely Hodgkinson became the tallest, brightest and most magnificent tower in Paris

First she controlled the field and then she tortured it, leaving behind seven women

Hodgkinson briefly covered her face with her left hand, her eyes welling up with tears, before accepting a shiny crown from a fan in the crowd and beginning a lap of honour that, for a 22-year-old, had been a long time coming.

We need to recap here, because her breakthrough has been both extraordinary and accompanied by a growing sense of impatience. She finished second at the 2021 Olympics and again at the 2022 World Championships, beaten both times by Athing Mu and by narrow margins, before taking silver again at the 2023 World Championships against Moraa.

Now a word about silver medals. Silver is beautiful. Silver shines. But too much silver weighs heavily on your back. Silver can lose its shine. Silver can blind, torment, and drive an athlete mad.

And there have been times when Hodgkinson has made it clear how angry she is about all that. Hiding it behind clichés? Not her style. So she came here talking about a “mission” and on a hot and sticky night in France it was accomplished.

“That was absolutely incredible,” she said. “I can’t believe I finally did it.”

“I’m the Olympic champion for the next four years and nobody can take that away from me. I can’t believe it. I’m so happy that I can take it home with me.”

And how beautiful it was, this journey of redemption that lasted one minute and 56 seconds

She briefly moved her left hand to cover her face, her eyes beginning to swell, before grabbing a Union flag

So she came here to talk about a ‘mission’ and on a hot and sticky night in France it was accomplished

She did so, becoming the first female Team GB athlete to win gold since Jesicca Ennis-Hill.

It was watching Ennis-Hill on Super Saturday that set this runaway train in motion, so one can only wonder what dreamers Hodgkinson will inspire. From there, we can also wonder how much further she will climb when her coaches and all conventional wisdom suggest she is still five years away from her peak.

Those are conversations for another day. In the here and now, we can already talk about greatness. And here’s the thing: invitations to greatness are everywhere at the Olympics, with the caveat that you are man or woman enough to be ready with your greatest effort at the moment of greatest importance and greatest stress.

For some, these three lines form a ladder, for others they are the Bermuda Triangle.

Hodgkinson would have seen Molly Caudery pole vaulting earlier in the day. Greatness had called for her, and as the best in the world this year, Caudery had earned her invitation. But she wasn’t ready—the enormity of what it all meant overwhelmed her. It does that to people, but it couldn’t do that to Hodgkinson.

While the greats watched and waited, Hodgkinson put on a magnificent show.

Granted, she was helped by the absence of Mu, who failed to make it to the U.S. trials, delaying the continuation of a fierce rivalry. But even Mu has never matched Hodgkinson’s best time of 1:54.61 this summer, and none of these women, including Moraa, had come within two seconds of it in all of 2024, so there was no question about her tactics.

She went straight forward. It was a statement and a message – keep going if you can.

For one lap, ticked off in a relatively slow 58.30 seconds, they could, but unlike 2021, Hodgkinson set the pace and called the shots. Unlike 2022, Hodgkinson wasn’t stuck on the inside. Unlike 2023, she knew she had the legs to beat them all when it came to a kickoff.

But with Moraa on Hodgkinson’s right shoulder there was still reason to treat this as a live race, as the Kenyan has good 400m speed in isolation and has passed Hodgkinson earlier. That could have caused panic, but there was none from the Wigan star, just a gentle turn of the screw each time Moraa tried to pick up the pace

Should she get there early and beat Mary Moraa (right), who defeated her last year at the 2022 Commonwealth Games and the World Cup?

Naturally, we wondered if those years of silver medals would create barriers, as the majors did for Rory McIlroy in golf

The afterburner continued, the class showed itself, she retreated, a vision of greatness and a woman at peace with a brilliant new label

Every little kick was returned with two of consequence, and then, like Mo Farah at his best, came the move to break the rest on the home straight. One yard of daylight became two became three, and the cost of the try saw Moraa go past Duguma.

Well done, they’ve made a huge effort to make up for that deficit.

But neither could match an athlete who grabbed the final by the scruff of the neck with one hand and was great with the other.