PARIS (Reuters) – Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson won the gold medal in the Olympic 800 metres on Monday, dealing superbly with the pressure of being a heavy favourite to deliver a commanding performance.
Ethiopia’s Tsige Duguma claimed silver and Kenya’s Mary Moraa took bronze.
The fastest in the world over the distance this year, Hodgkinson took the lead halfway through the first lap and held off an attack from Duguma to finish in one minute 56.72 seconds.
Hodgkinson, 22, had arrived in Paris on a high. She set a new personal best of 1:54.61 in London three weeks ago, a result that made her the sixth-fastest woman of all time over two laps.
(Reporting by Helen Reid, editing by Ed Osmond)
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