JEMMA REEKIE has watched her Olympic final back, just once or twice. Tokyo brought a snapshot of exhilarating promise, then devastating despair, as a medal in the final of the 800 metres was held out toward her then cruelly snatched away.
The 24-year-old, who starts her world championship campaign in tonight’s heats in Oregon, simply went into slow motion as her rivals pressed fast forward.
Athing Mu announced herself by storming to gold. Reekie, her closest challenger entering the home straight, overtaken for second by compatriot Keely Hodgkinson with 50m left. The Scot, visibly tying up, desperately clinging to bronze before Raevyn Rogers picked her off on the very last stride. Nine-hundredths of a second was how they measured the difference between podium and pain.
“When I watched the race, I was never upset or been disappointed at how I'd run it,” Reekie declares. “Because if you watch it back, I go to chase Athing to try and win. And I was so happy that I’d done that because I believed I could be up there with them and compete for a medal.
“So I was really happy with the way I'd run it. Like, you could watch it back and say, ‘oh, if you hadn't used the energy there, you might have gotten a medal.’ But I stood at the start line to try and win.”
Mu and Hodgkinson - teen tyros then, both now turned 20 – have gone nowhere except fast. The Englishwoman, who destroyed Kelly Holmes UK record with her silver streak, has got better still. More assured, more ambitious. “It's so good for all the girls in Britain to have Keely as a benchmark and to push us all on as well,” says Reekie who took the British title last month with her foe opting out.
That was only her second victory of this year. The after-effects of glandular fever hit her hard. Some days, she has felt at her brilliant best and able to go toe to toe with anyone. Others, when she has been short on energy and in need of rest.
“There's been times I've been upset after races,” Reekie admits. “And there's been times that I've been happy after races. And I've just had to trust what I’m doing. It is something I can't control either.
“I'm still doing pretty well considering. Obviously, I think everyone knows I have really high standards of myself. So it's not where I want to be. But I've also just had to keep moving on from each race and just think, the big champs are ahead. And hopefully they will be well-timed well for me.”
There was one strong reaction to that Tokyo trauma. A re-think from her coach Andy Young over their approach. “I've just had to think: ‘what can I do to make myself a bit stronger?’” she reveals. “I just had to go away with Andy and make myself strong at that finish.”
Following three weeks in the mountains of Colorado, she feels in fine fettle. Ready and raring to go. Reekie will hope for three of her very good days and trust her body does not let her down. Certainly she cannot hold back in an event where the strength in depth has grown. She will go all in because it is the only way she knows.
“Even if you think back to 2020 and Covid, it’s all just stepped up since. And it's amazing to be part of that as well. The girls are so lovely as well, we all support each other. And we all want each other to run fast. Because the faster we run, it pushes the next person on to go fast. If they can run that, I can do that too. So it's really exciting.”
