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After two days and seven events, only seconds could separate them. Katarina Johnson-Thompson ran the 800m of her life - the only problem was she pushed the greatest heptathlete of all time into doing so as well. Nafi Thiam completed the unprecedented hat-trick of Olympic titles in the heptathlon, collapsing across the line after chasing Johnson-Thompson down at the last. Thiam won gold by 36 points, or around two seconds.
For Johnson-Thompson, the joy of a long-awaited first Olympics medal came with the anguish of finishing so close to gold. She had managed to put the injuries and heartbreak behind her to revive the Olympic dream that began at London 2012 and appeared out of reach when she ruptured her achilles in 2019. The 31-year-old was not going to give up the fight with one event to go, but the comeback in the 800m proved just beyond her.
Johnson-Thompson had to beat Thiam’s time in the 800m by roughly eight seconds to overhaul the Belgian’s lead in the standings, a near-impossible deficit. Although Johnson-Thompson set a new personal best of 2:04:90, Thiam managed to keep the Liverpudlian within the required margin to defend her title. The 29-year-old knew she had been pushed all the way, though. Thiam, too, set a personal best of 2:10:62 to secure a final tally of 6880.
The precariousness of her lead and the challenge Johnson-Thompson presented Thiam was evident on the opening lap. The Belgian stumbled when the runner behind her, Hungary’s Xenia Krizsan, clipped her heels. Thiam almost went down but managed to recover her stride. If she had fallen, then gold would have been Johnson-Thompson’s to claim: instead, she was tightly marked throughout.
“I can’t even describe the words that this has taken,” she said. “I’m just so relieved, I’m so happy, so, so happy to add an Olympic medal to my collection. It’s the only one I didn’t have. It’s been so hard getting back to this point so I’m so relieved. I really don’t know what to say at the minute, I’m so overwhelmed.
“In the lead up to this Games, all I’ve been saying is I wanted to have a chance. Obviously, I wanted a medal, but I wanted a chance when I turned the line at the start of the 800m. I had a chance, I had an eight-second, far-off chance but that’s what this sport is, getting to that point and seeing who had it at the end.
“I can’t complain. Nafi ran a personal best and she’s probably the greatest of all time. I’m so blessed to be having these big rivalries with one of the best of all time and I ran a PB myself. That’s all I can ask of myself.”
The goal before Paris was to complete the set. At her fourth Olympics, she succeeded. As a teenager, she had finished 14th when Jessica Ennis won gold in front of a home crowd at London 2012. She was sixth at Rio 2016 before the nightmare of Tokyo, when she failed to finish the 200m due to a calf injury. But Johnson-Thompson had come back to win her second World Championship gold last year, adding to European and Commonwealth medals. At the Olympics, she had the opportunity to end that long wait for silverware.
The morning had brought disappointment, starting the day at the top of the leaderboard before slipping into second following the long jump and javelin. Johnson-Thompson thought she had done all she could, landing two of her three best throws of all time in the javelin, but Thiam still destroyed it. Her effort of over 54m earned her a 121-point lead over Johnson-Thompson ahead of the 800m, enough to afford to finish ninth in the final event.
It was a lightning-quick race, with nine of the top 11 recording a personal best on the Stade de France, an hour after a heavy downpour in Paris. Johnson-Thompson had America’s Anna Hall to pursue and chased hard on the final lap. All Johnson-Thompson wanted was a chance. Coming back gave her that. Running a personal best did, too. A medal at the Olympics is reward for a fight that never died even through the darkest times.
