Keely Hodgkinson revealed she partied into the early hours after storming to Olympic gold in Paris on Monday night.
Hodgkinson pulled away from world champion Mary Moraa and the rest of the 800m finalists down the home straight to win her first global title in convincing style.
It was the culmination of years of hard work by the British athlete, and the perfect end to a series of near misses after she won silver medals in Tokyo and at both of the past two World Championships.
The morning after the night before, Hodgkinson said she was feeling worse for wear after enjoying the moment with family and friends at the French Flair bar in Paris’ Pigale district until 2am.
No [it doesn’t sound normal yet],” she told Eurosport bright and early on Tuesday morning. “I’ll be honest, I’ve had about two hours’ sleep. I’m absolutely dying right now. My legs are still burning from last night.”
After crossing the finish line and taking a moment to realise what she’d achieved, Hodgkinson ran straight over to her family and coaches sitting in the crowd at the Stade de France, and shared an emotional embrace with her father Dean.
“It was such a surreal moment. I had so much of my family there. I just hope I made them proud.”
Hodgkinson followed Kelly Holmes in winning 800m gold at the Olympics for Team GB, 20 years on from Athens. She also secured Great Britain’s first gold medal on the track since Mo Farah’s double in 2016.
She said after her win: “I think being the champion, no one can ever take that away from me,” she said. “This is the biggest stage our sport’s ever on. I don’t know what it’ll bring, but I think I’m a lot better prepared for it than I was last time.”
Being the favourite brought pressure and expectation. With a chance to win an Olympic title, another near-miss would have been devastating. “I’ve had to try and block out the noise,” she said. “To deliver on this stage, it means everything. But it’s also been very, very difficult. Definitely super tough.”
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