Team GB hopeful Keely Hodgkinson feeling 'pressure' of 'being chased' in Olympic Games gold-medal hunt
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Published 22/05/2024 at 09:17 GMT
Keely Hodgkinson is among the favourites for a middle-distance gold medal at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, after winning silver three years ago in the delayed Tokyo event. The 22-year-old is relishing the "pressure" that comes along with the expectation, claiming she is now "being chased rather than the one chasing".
Watch as Hodgkinson takes silver in 800m behind Moraa
Keely Hodgkinson is feeling the "pressure" of "being chased" in her hunt for Olympic gold - but is confident of a victory in Paris which would eventually see her considered among the Team GB greats.
The Wigan native enjoyed her breakout year at the age of 19, when she benefited from the delayed 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo with success at the rearranged event in 2021, once the Covid-19 pandemic had calmed.
Kelly Holmes' 26-year British record for the 800m was broken there by Hodgkinson, who clocked in at 1:55.88 to win a silver medal.
She has since followed that up with 800m silvers at the 2022 and 2023 World Championships, plus the 2022 Commonwealth Games on home soil. Gold medals arrived at the 2021 and 2023 Diamond League, as well as the 2022 European Championships.
That's the colour she'll be firmly targeting in Paris this summer, with the 22-year-old among the favourites for middle-distance glory at the 2024 Olympic Games, live on Eurosport and discovery+.
Hodgkinson told the BBC: "It's quite a privileged position to be in. It's exciting but a little bit daunting, and a very different position to what I was in last time.
"I'm still young but there was no pressure then, whereas now I feel like I have a little bit to live up to. Being chased rather than being the one chasing is a harder position to be in but I enjoy the pressure, to be honest.
"I would like to one day be considered one of the best Britain has ever had and I just keep working towards making that happen."
Hodginson's main rivals for gold will be two women who have denied her by the narrowest of margins in the past: Athing Mu of the US and Mary Moraa of Kenya.
The new 'big three' of middle-distance running are all within two years of each other in age, with Mu having won gold at the 2020 Games and Moraa grabbing Commonwealth honours in Birmingham.
On this brilliant new generation, Hodgkinson continued: "I think it's a good rivalry. It's quite exciting for us all because we're all so young, we're all really talented, we work hard and we all really want it.
"I've really grown up and I have a lot of experience now. I’m really excited. I've spent three years trying to find those little tiny one per cents.
"I’ve trained so much harder than I did three years ago and I just hope that it's enough."
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