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Middle-distance runner Phoebe Gill is becoming accustomed to her “teenage sensation” label but confesses comparisons to Tom Daley will still take some getting used to.
Gill turned 17 two months before claiming the British 800m title in June, while diver Daley, chosen as a Team GB flagbearer alongside Helen Glover for Friday’s opening ceremony, was just 14 when he made his Olympic debut in 2008, finally winning his first gold alongside partner Matty Lee three summers ago in Tokyo.
The now 30-year-old father-of-two’s five-Games journey is a reminder to Gill that whatever happens in Paris, her own maiden Games may well be just the first chapter of a long legacy.
The first-year sixth form student, one of 14 teenagers representing Great Britain at the Olympics, said: “I sometimes need to remind myself and ground myself that I am still a teenager and do have a long career left. It’s weird seeing people compare myself to Tom Daley and other young Olympians.
“I hope that I have successful journeys like them. I remember watching them when I was younger and thinking they were such inspiring people. Hopefully I can be like that and a role model on my journey in athletics.
“I’m grateful going to the Games at this age because I know there is less pressure on me now because hopefully there will be a couple of more Games after I grow up.
“But ever since I ran 1:57 I’ve felt older in a way and started to compare myself to more mature athletes. I do think it wasn’t the best thing to do because you draw higher expectations just because you’ve run fast.”
That time came in May at the Belfast Irish Milers Meeting, where Gill clocked an astonishing 1:57.86, the second fastest time in history in her age-group to demolish the previous European under-18 record of 1:59.65 that had stood since 1979.
It also landed Gill eighth on the British all-time list, shaving nearly four seconds off her personal best.
She became the national 800m champion two months after finishing her school exams, and joked: “Going to maths class after winning the British champs was a grounding experience.”
In Paris, Gill will be up against Tokyo fourth-placed finisher Jemma Reekie, who she beat to the British title, and Keely Hodgkinson, who was herself just 19 when she stormed to a stunning Olympic silver in 1:55.88 that same summer, breaking the national record set in 1995 by Dame Kelly Holmes – who sent Gill a voice note on Instagram after she claimed the British title.
Gill said: “I was screaming in the bathroom, I was in shock. I was on the verge of tears playing it. I sent one back and I’ve met her in person now. It’s crazy to be meeting all my idols that I’ve been watching on the TV for so long.”
Hodgkinson set yet another British standard, 1:54.61, at last Saturday’s London Athletics Meet, adding to what was already a considerable chorus of voices who already want to hang Paris Olympic gold around her neck.
Gill was in the stands that day, just a few weeks after she found herself “trying not to fangirl” when she met her future Olympic team-mate – and opponent – at the British championships in June.
The gold medal favourite advised her would-be protégé to “just to let whatever happens happen” at the Olympic trials, advice that clearly paid off in the form a Paris berth and induction into what is becoming a formidable lineage of British female 800m talent.
Gill added: “They’ve all been so lovely to me, and it’s reaffirming to me that athletics is the right choice because it produces such wonderful people.
“It’s easy to say I’m coming in with no expectations, but I think every athlete always puts some goals in their head. For me it’s just to progress through as many rounds as possible and to have fun and run with freedom the entire time.”
