Keely Hodgkinson was already a world-class athlete long before that sticky August night inside the Stade de France when she streaked clear to claim Olympic glory. And yet it is a mark of the Games’ unique power that even an elite 800m runner can have their life changed by winning that first Olympic title. With gold came more recognition, more opportunities, and more strange encounters in ordinary life.
“I was pottery painting in a little cafe in Sale... that was random,” she says, pondering some of the oddest moments of her post-Paris era. “Some woman came in and was like: ‘Are you the runner?’”
