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E-mail Xinhua, August 6, 2024
Keely Hodgkinson clinched Britain's first athletics gold medal of the Paris Olympics by winning the women's 800m final on Monday.
Keely Hodgkinson (1st L) of Britain competes during the women's 800m final of Athletics at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France, Aug. 5, 2024. (Xinhua/Li Ming)
The 22-year-old, a silver medalist at the Tokyo Games three years ago, held off a late charge from Ethiopia's Tsige Duguma to win in one minute, 56.72 seconds at the Stade de France.
Duguma took silver in a personal best time of 1:57.15 and Kenya's Mary Moraa claimed bronze in 1:57.42.
"I'm super happy. I'm now the Olympic champion for the next four years and no one can take that away from me," Hodgkinson said.
"I've worked so hard over the last year and you could see how much it meant to me as I crossed the line."
Monday's triumph followed a series of near-misses for Hodgkinson, who finished second at the past two world championships following her silver in Tokyo.
But she found another gear here, striding clear of her nearest rivals at the final bend before seeing off Duguma's challenge.
"I can't believe I've finally done it," she said. "It means so much to me. And to do it here, where better? The audience was absolutely incredible, it felt like a home crowd to me. So I'm super happy."
It was Britain's first Olympic track medal since Mo Farah secured the 5,000m and 10,000m double at Rio 2016. Hodgkinson is only the 10th British woman to win an athletics gold medal at the Olympics.
