SAINT-DENIS, France -- Draped in a Union Jack, still out of breath from vanquishing the best of the world's 800-metre runners, Keely Hodgkinson placed a crown upon her head and smiled, her coronation finally complete.
As Hodgkinson dipped across the finish line on Monday night, she joined an incredibly rare group of British track gold medallists. London 2012 memorably produced 'Super Saturday' when Britain won three athletics golds within an hour of each other. First, heptathlete Jessica Ennis-Hill refused to buckle under the pressure of being the face of a home Games, then Greg Rutherford won an unlikely gold in long jump before Mo Farah stormed to victory in the 10,000 metres. Since that gold rush, the victories have been harder to come by.
Farah won the 5,000-metre title days later, and then repeated his Olympic double at Rio 2016, but nobody else has been able to follow his lead.
Until Hodgkinson joined that golden club on Monday.
She became the first British woman since Dame Kelly Holmes to win 800-metre gold and only the 10th female British track champion in history. On a personal note for Hodgkinson, though, she is also the first female British track champion since Hill in 2012.
"Jess was a big inspiration," Hodgkinson said. "I think she was the last. That's crazy to be part of that. I looked up to her. She got me back into athletics all those years ago.
"To join her and other legends like Kelly. I've just seen Kelly up there [in the stands]. She's absolutely ecstatic. To share these moments with these people and to insert myself in history is really special."
Her choice of headwear was appropriate, if a little risky. Parisians have a notoriously disapproving view of royalty, but here they roared on the new queen of the 800 metres as she followed the arc of each bend on her way to victory at the Stade de France.
"I think Seb Coe once said it best," Hodgkinson said. "The first thing you feel [after crossing the line] is relief."
She had been seen as the red-hot favourite for this 800-metre event ever since her main rival, reigning Olympic champion Athing Mu, got tripped in the U.S. trials. After that twist of fate, it became Hodgkinson's title to lose, although there was still work to do. The Olympic Games can prove ruthless for even the most heir-apparent of competitors, and it reared its teeth in the semifinals, Team GB have suffered a number of disappointments on the track so far: Jemma Reekie (800 metres), Dina Asher-Smith (100 metres) and Molly Caudery (pole vault) all failed to reach their respective finals, let alone medal.
There was also the small matter of Hodgkinson never having reached these heights before. She has performed well in Diamond League meets, even setting a new personal best last month in London. "We wanted to do that to make a statement and hopefully be in everyone's head," her coach Trevor Painter said. "So she's kind of relished that pressure on her shoulders." But this was unfamiliar territory for Hodgkinson.
The Wigan-born 22-year-old has been agonisingly close to major glory before but she's always been left wanting. She won silver at the last Olympic Games with a daring run behind eventual gold medallist Mu. In doing so, she broke Holmes' 26-year-old British record. Hodgkinson followed that up with a pair of silver medals in the past two world championships -- the second of which came in 2023 when she entered as the favourite but lost a tactical masterclass to Kenya's Mary Moraa.
"To finally get rid of the bridesmaid tag is good," Painter said.
In truth, she made it almost impossible to stop her. In second place was Ethiopia's Tsige Duguma, who ran a personal best. Behind her was Moraa, who was on Hodgkinson's shoulder until the final 150 metres before she fell away. In the end, Hodgkinson won by over a second-and-a-half. This was not just a momentous victory, in the end it was a comfortable one.
"I've had to try and block out the noise," Hodgkinson said. "I feel like a lot more people get into it in the Olympics and to deliver on that stage means everything. But it's also been very, very difficult. Hats off to anyone that's dealt with that before. It's definitely a privilege to be in."
From here, it's easy to see her career surging ahead into the middle-distance. Hodgkinson is no longer second-best, no longer the one chasing.
"She's sometimes said 'I want to be one of the greatest ever' almost quite shyly, but she's sixth of all-time," her other coach, Jenny Meadows, said. "Trevor and I believe she's in the shape to be the third of all-time."
Whenever she runs from here, she will be watched more than before. She will be the reigning Olympic champion, the one who ended Monday night with a crown on her head.
"No one can ever take that away from me," Hodgkinson said.