Keely Hodgkinson shrugging off the pressure in pursuit of Olympic gold in Paris

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

Keely Hodgkinson wouldn’t be human if she didn’t feel the weight of an entire nation pressing down on her. The down-to-earth 22-year-old is the resounding favourite for 800m gold with bookmakers rating her chances of victory as high as 75%, the strongest among all Team GB athletes.

Having been anointed the poster girl of these Games in the Jessica Ennis-Hill mould, how Hodgkinson deals with the seven days before her campaign begins on Friday could be as important as what follows. “I'm not going to say that it [pressure] doesn't go through my head, but I just try to forget about it,” said Hodgkinson. “I haven't really thought about it to be honest but it's quite a privilege to be following in Jess’ footsteps. “If anyone sees me as a poster girl like she was, then that's quite a big achievement so I'm privileged to be in this position and hopefully I can go on and do what she did and bring home the gold.” Hodgkinson burst to silver on debut in Tokyo unburdened by expectation, correcting Piers Morgan for misspelling her name with characteristic chutzpah.

This time even her team-mates in the 800m, 17-year-old Phoebe Gill and Tokyo fourth-place Jemma Reekie, can’t help but reflect on how gold is being hung around Hodgkinson’s neck. “I’m sure Keely will be feeling a bit of heat going into the Games,” said Gill. "But she’s such a mature athlete.

I know she’ll be able to deal with it. She’s such a lovely person - she spoke to me after the Trials, and I was trying not to fangirl because I’ve been looking up to her for so long.” Reekie added: “It’s not fair to put every bit of pressure on her.