Only the truest heptathlon queen could deny Katarina Johnson-Thompson Olympic gold... she earned closure with the race of her life - and her silver medal will have a lovely shine to it
Interview with Katarina Johnson-Thompson, who claimed her first Olympic medal with a silver in the heptathlon, where she clocked a personal best in the 800 metres.
She ran the race of her life and then she hugged the nemesis of her career. It wasn’t to be for Katarina Johnson-Thompson, but the silver lining came from knowing she finally owns an Olympic medal and only a true great kept her from the top step of the podium.
Of course, that would be Nafi Thiam, because gold is her colour. It was her colour at Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020 and, for an unprecedented third time, it was wrapped around her neck here at Paris 2024, too. A phenomenon, really, the jack of all trades and the truest queen of the heptathlon.
But what a battle this was and, maybe, second place will serve as a means of closure for Johnson-Thompson, as well.
For a woman who has won golds at world, European and Commonwealth level, it has always been wildly out of keeping with her talents that fitness, composure or bad luck have denied her a medal of any shade at three previous Games.
Gold would have been the perfect ending to the tale, but silver will have a lovely shine for a competitor who told Mail Sport just a few weeks she ‘just wanted to do herself justice’. By that she meant no breakdowns or wheelchairs, like Tokyo, and no capitulations, like Rio.
