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'I can't believe I've finally done it' - GB's Keely Hodgkinson wins gold in 800m

keely hodgkinson wins olympic goldImage source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Keely Hodgkinson celebrates winning gold in the women's 800m

Great Britain's Keely Hodgkinson won gold in the women's 800m final at the Paris Olympics.

The 22-year-old athlete crossed the finish line in a time of one minute 56.72 seconds.

She was followed by Ethiopia's Tsige Duguma (1:57.15) in second place, and Kenyan world champion Mary Moraa (1:57.42) in third.

"I have worked really hard for the last year and I think you can see how much it meant to me when I crossed the line. I can't believe I have finally done it" said Keely.

She now becomes the third British woman to win gold in the 800m race at the Olympics, after Ann Packer at the 1964 Tokyo Games and Dame Kelly Holmes in Athens in 2004.

Who is Keely Hodgkinson?

Image source, Getty Images

Keely Hodgkinson was born in Atherton, Greater Manchester, on 3 March 2002.

As a child, Keely enjoyed swimming as well as running but became inspired to focus on athletics at the age of 10 after watching Jessica Ennis-Hill win gold in the heptathlon at the London 2012 Olympics.

At the age of 13, Keely had an operation to remove a tumour from the left side of her head, which disrupted her running training and left her around 95% deaf in her left ear.

Keely went to the same high school as England footballer Ella Toone and the two became friends and still keep in touch.

Image source, ella toone / twitter
Image caption,

Keely Hodgkinson and Ella Toone were sporty friends as kids

Keely went to her first Olympics in Tokyo aged 19, where she won a silver medal for Great Britain, breaking Dame Kelly Holmes' Olympic 800m record.

After this, she made a promise that she would win gold next time, and made that dream come true at the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Now she has her sights set on breaking the women's 800m world record, which has been held by Czech athlete Jarmila Kratochvilova for the last 41 years.