The 30-year-old had to settle for second place when she failed to beat the Belgian Nafissatou Thiam by the 10 seconds she needed to win gold in Saturday night’s final event, the 800m in the Olympic Stadium. It was insane – we all had four hours sleep last night and we were finishing at, well, I don’t know what time it is now.
Advertisement
“These two days have been really tough but I am really proud. So I want to put all the pieces together, go and rest up and come back tomorrow stronger”. “I want to make sure that it’s the right one”. “I’m an older athlete and the body can’t take the volume anymore”.
“I feel very happy and content with the way my career has gone and what I’ve achieved so far”.
“It’s hard as you want to end at the very top”, she said.
“I was like “oh god that’s so much”, she said. It’s like, have you still got stuff in the basement?’ I have got to go away now to make a big decision as to what I do.
But with a ruptured tendon and heavily-strapped elbow, Thiam launched a monster effort out to 53.13m (921 points) to leave her with a huge advantage going into the final event.
It was a fully deserved victory for Thiam, who recorded five personal bests from the seven events en route to gold, including the 800m.
She said she was “honestly not disappointed” to have lost her title.
‘I gave what I had on those two days, ‘ she said.
Meanwhile London 2012 gold medallist Jessica Ennis-Hill was third after the high jump, having won her hurdles heat with a time of 12.84 seconds.
“I never thought I’d win this many medals and even just being at the top of my sport and this event for so many years has been unbelievable”, she said.
It takes a lot of support to be the most athletic woman in the world. She wished her shot put and 200 could have been better, though.
In an incredible race which was won by Almaz Ayana of Ethiopa in a new world record of 29:17.45, 42 year old Pavey performed admirably as she led the British contingent home in 15th place with a time of 31:33.44.
“She clearly won’t do another Olympic Games in 2020”. After the javelin, and the long jump, it was revealed that there was a 10-second time difference between herself and Belgium’s Thiam. Fortunately for Jessica Ennis-Hill, the 2012 Olympic heptathlon champion who is looking to defend her title in Rio, she has exactly that.
Advertisement
Johnson-Thompson came back with the day’s fastest 200m to end the day fourth, 100 points off the pace. Late nights, then packing up, eating and preparing for the next day, she said she was working on between 4-5 hours’ sleep for the final day of the heptathlon.
