The 22-year-old middle distance runner has attracted the largest audience of any sport throughout the Games
Keely Hodgkinson’s Olympic 800m gold medal run was the most watched event of all of Paris 2024.
An incredible 9.1 million people on BBC One and iPlayer watched Hodgkinson triumph at the Stade de France as she became the first British female Olympic champion in athletics since Jessica Ennis-Hill in London 2012.
Hodgkinson ran 1:56.72 to win the title, just behind world champion Mary Mora; The Kenyan beat Hodgkinson to the trophy and Tsige Duguma to the first in Budapest last year.
“I’ve worked so hard over the last year and you could see how much it meant to me when I crossed the line,” Hodgkinson said afterwards. “I can’t believe I finally did it. It means a lot to me. And to do it here, where it is better. The crowd was absolutely incredible, it felt like a home crowd. So I am extremely happy.
“Anyway, I wanted to be at the front, probably after a faster first lap, but playing the semi-final and final back-to-back was all tiring. It’s tough. I trusted myself, I felt that Mary was coming straight down from behind me. But I kept my cool and got to the line first this time.
“I cheekily looked at the screen just to make sure, but you can’t do anything until you cross that line. I’m now Olympic champion for the next four years and nobody can take that away from me.”
Keeley Hodgkinson celebrates with Trevor Pinter (Getty)
Only Ann Packer (1964) and Kelly Holmes (2004) have won the Olympic women’s 800m for Great Britain, but Hodgkinson is now part of that distinguished group.
Hodgkinson’s golden run was closely followed by Adam Peaty’s silver medal in the 100m breaststroke with 8.5m.
Noah Lyles’ minimum win in the 100m and Gabby Thomas’ win in the 200m saw 8.4m and 7.9m respectively.
Katarina Johnson-Thompson won Olympic heptathlon silver and cleared 7.3m in her 800m.
“The Paris 2024 Olympics have seen some truly incredible medal moments during this remarkable summer of sport, and we’ve seen many new sporting stars emerge at international level,” said Alex Kay-Jelski, director of BBC Sport.
“With world-class on-air presentation and production, BBC Sport has been there to champion athletes and take audiences on a journey across multiple sporting disciplines.”
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