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Katarina Johnson-Thompson admitted she was “grieving gold” but still celebrating after securing her first Olympic medal with heptathlon silver in Paris.
The Liverpudlian led the way for much of the two-day competition, but after the morning’s javelin throw found herself second to Nafissatou Thiam, needing to beat her Belgian rival by a margin of over eight seconds in the 800 metres.
The 31-year-old laid it all on the line and was second fastest in the final event with a personal best of 2:04.90 to finish nearly six seconds ahead of Thiam, who secured an unprecedented third Olympic heptathlon title by a mere 36 points.
Johnson-Thompson, the reigning world heptathlon champion, said: “I’m so grateful, emotional and overwhelmed. I’m just trying to live in the moment.
“Ultimate relief as I crossed the line. I was running for a gold, but to be honest I had such mixed emotions going into it because I was sort of grieving gold, but also wanting to fight for gold but also celebrating inside.
“I had so many different emotions crossing the line. Just being on the podium is a huge honour. Olympic cycles can be brutal and I know that more than anyone, so I’m so happy this cycle has worked out.”
A maiden Olympic medal has been a long time coming for Johnson-Thompson, who finished 13th on debut at London 2012, then sixth at the Rio 2016 Games.
The 31-year-old was then forced to pull out of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics after sustaining a calf injury in the 200m.
She said: “2016 was all mental I think, it was mental exhaustion, 2021 was physical.
“I feel like after both of them, I had to revamp and sort of change a lot of things to get into this next cycle, so I’m so happy with the three years and the team I’ve got around me. I wouldn’t be on the start line without them for sure and I’ve just got them to thank. It’s all down to them.
“I’ve beat (Thiam) once before and I think I’m the only person who has done it. I got pretty close this time around. I’m so honoured to have a rivalry against one of the greatest of all time.”
Johnson-Thompson began day two at the top of the standings and maintained her place after landing 6.40m in the long jump to hold a narrow 45-point advantage over the rest of the field.
She threw a season’s-best 45.49m in the javelin, but Thiam landed a mammoth 54.04m for a season’s best of her own.
Johnson-Thompson’s two javelin attempts were the second and third best throws of her life, while on the first day of competition she set a personal best in the shot put of 14.44m, cleared 1.92m in the high jump – her highest in five years – and ran a season’s best 13.40 in the 100m hurdles.
It was a magnificent effort from the Liverpool supporter, who has battled through an ongoing tendonitis issue and pulled out of the European Championships in Rome at the start of June after only three events.
She then missed a fortnight of training and had a number of injections in her Achilles but did compete at the UK Athletics Championships in Manchester and the London Diamond League last month.
Her final taste of action before leaving for France was at the England Athletics Championships in late July.
Johnson-Thompson has made a number of changes since Tokyo, first parting ways with long-time coach Bertrand Valcin, then relocating to Florida to train with Petros Kyprianou.
That turned out to be a short-lived partnership and she returned to England, signing on with current coach Aston Moore at Loughborough in the summer of 2022.
A year later – in the absence of Thiam, who was nursing an Achilles issue – the Briton became world champion in Budapest.
Earlier at these Games, Johnson-Thompson said she had not ruled out participating at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
Those conversations will come in due course, but on Friday night all Johnson-Thompson wanted to do was savour the moment.
She added: “I literally just crossed the line and you want me to think about four years.
“I feel like the team around me have shown longevity in the heptathlon and shown me I can put it together in this different way, not just the high jump and long jump but put together a full heptathlete and I can still get PBs.
“As long as I’m in the race, I will continue.
“(For now) I just want to rest and relax, have some wine, see my friends and family and watch the athletics as I’m a huge fan and I’ve not been able to watch any of it. I’ve been underneath the stadium trying to sleep.”
Oxford’s Jade O’Dowda finished 10th in the heptathlon on her Olympic debut, declaring the experience the fulfilment of a childhood dream.
She said of Johnson-Thompson: “What she has done is absolutely incredible. I am so pleased for her.”
Belgium’s Noor Vidts took bronze.
