Keely Hodgkinson took off her silver medal in a live BBC interview when asked how she felt about not winning the 800m final at the European Athletics Championships. The Great Britain athlete headed into the race among the three favourites alongside Audrey Werro and Femke Bol.
The former ultimately headed out into a lead halfway through the race and was able to hang on and claim gold. That meant the Olympic champion was forced to settle for second place and a silver medal and she made her feelings on that clear by removing the medal from around her neck despite later clarifying it was a joke.
After taking it off, she said: “I’m kidding, that was a joke. Yeah, a bit of mixed emotions. I think with that level of competition, any medal is a really good achievement. So another one to add to my collection.
“I can never be disappointed with that. But yeah, I’m defending champion, so I wanted to do that. I knew it was going to come down to the wire. I really thought I was going to win today, but I guess it just wasn’t meant to be. I didn’t do anything wrong. It’s just one of those things.
“I think there were so many different ways that could have played out and we’d figure it out after the first 100m. Audrey wanted to take it on and with that wind I was happy to let her. We’re all really great athletes so I knew it was going to be close. I’m looking forward to the next match-up.
“I’ve said all year it’s really motivating to be in such a competitive event. I love it, I think it brings out the best in me. Championship racing that’s what it’s all about, you don’t know how it’s going to go and some people can have a good day or a bad day. I think I had a pretty good day today but it just didn’t go how I wanted it to.”
Following behind Hogkinson and Werro was Bol of the Netherlands while British athlete Jemma Reekie kept pace with the leaders before falling away during the second half of the race. Reekie was in Werro’s semi-final and finished first to qualify following the latter’s unfortunate fall.
Officials later reversed the decision which saw Werro qualify for the final which had 10 participants and that meant that two athletes shared a lane to start. There were questions over whether or not Werro would attempt to set the pace but those were quickly answered when she flew past Hodgkinson and stayed out in front over the line.