Katarina Johnson-Thompson had simply pleaded for a chance; at a fourth Olympic Games, she finally got one.
In the final event of seven in a sport that is a numbers game at its most basic, she simply had to finish eight-and-a-half seconds ahead of the defending Olympic champion Nafi Thiam in the 800metres for gold.
After an unlucky 13th at London 2012 and injury heartache in both Brazil and Tokyo, briefly an athlete who has experienced virtually every twist and turn of a rollercoaster career suggested she might pull off the biggest high at what will surely be her last Olympics.
In a game of cat and mouse on a sultry night at the Stade de France, she knew her personal best for two laps of the track was six seconds better than that of Thiam.
Such a result would leave the Belgian with gold by 30 points, and so it played out.
Final heptathlon standings (top five)
1 Nafi Thiam: 6880
2 Katarina Johnson-Thompson: 6844
3 Noor Vidts: 6707
4 Annik Kaelin: 6639
5 Anna Hall: 6615
Johnson-Thompson produced a stunning personal best of 2:04.90 but so too did Thiam with a 2:10.62 to seal a hat-trick of Olympic titles.
“I was running for gold tonight,” she said. “But I am so happy, o complaints at all. I am grateful and emotional and overwhelmed. I have no regrets. I am so happy to come away with an Olympic medal. To be on the podium is such an honour.”
Johnson-Thompson was in a similar will-she-won’t-she run at last year’s World Championships in Budapest against Anna Hall and pulled it off, her points tally just 20 points more than the American by the end.
But this was an Olympics, an event where she could have forgiven for feeling cursed. She was sixth in 2016 having recovered from a quad tear and knee surgery. Five years on, she had come back from her Achilles issue and then tore her calf in the 200m.
As she put it, “I think it’s really hard to be a fan of me.” And there were injury doubts too before Paris when she pulled out of the European Championships. Her team insisted it was precautionary but the doubters were lining up.
Come Paris and in the lead-in to the 800m the 31-year-old had had nearly eight hours to mull over those eight or so seconds and work out a plan of action with her coach Aston Moore, who had dragged her out of the mire when she was left disillusioned with life in the long rebuild from surgery after her Achilles had split in two.
Moore had forced upon her 800m runs in the depths of winter, which occasionally ended up with her throwing up afterwards. For the first time on the start line, she was finally grateful for such athletic torture.
She had produced a stunning display on her opening day of the heptathlon here and led going into the final three events.
Just one centimetre separated the pair in the long jump, Thiam the marginally further at 6.41m to close the gap. Team GB’s Johnson-Thompson knew she needed the throw of her life in the javelin – such is her rival’s superiority - and to her credit pulled off a season’s best 45.49m.
The problem was that an hour later Thiam managed her own season’s best, a 54.04m equating to 166 points more, putting her 121 points or eight seconds in an 800m clear.
There were those that dared to believe, Johnson-Thompson included, and briefly on the second lap of the 800 it seemed like Thiam was wilting. Once into the home straight, though, she found fresh impetus to finish inside six seconds for victory by just 36 points.
And Johnson-Thompson had nothing but praise for Thiam. She said: “Nafi is the greatest of all time. It is undisputed now. It’s an honour to have an actual rivalry against one of the greatest of all time.”
