She ran the race of her life and then she hugged the nemesis of her career. It wasn’t to be for Katarina Johnson-Thompson, but the silver lining came from knowing she has finally won an Olympic medal and only a true great kept her from the top step of the podium.
Of course, that would be Nafi Thiam, because gold is her colour. It was her colour at Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020 and, for an unprecedented third time, it was wrapped around her neck here at Paris 2024, too. A phenomenon, really, the jack of all trades and the truest queen of the heptathlon.
But what a battle this was and, maybe, second place will serve as a means of closure for Johnson-Thompson, as well.
For a woman who has won golds at world, European and Commonwealth level, it has always been wildly out of keeping with her talents that fitness, composure or bad luck have denied her a medal of any shade at three previous Games.
Gold would have been the perfect ending to the tale, but silver will have a lovely shine for a competitor who told Mail Sport just a few weeks she ‘just wanted to do herself justice’. By that she meant no breakdowns or wheelchairs, like Tokyo, and no capitulations, like Rio.
Katarina Johnson-Thompson has had to settle for silver in the women’s heptathlon
The Brit proudly wore a crown and draped a union flag over her shoulders after nabbing silver
The Team GB star went into the race 121 points behind two-time Olympic champion Nafi Thiam
But the Brit was only able to gain a six second lead over her fierce rival (pictured)
To those purposes, this was a box brilliantly ticked, with two personal bests recorded at the age of 31 and achieved with a body savaged by injuries across the past decade. That her final tally of 6844 points was the second highest of her career in major championships tells a story.
But the better detail is how close she pushed Thiam. Going into the final discipline of seven, the 800m, she needed to beat the Belgian by at least 8.5sec to make up the deficit of 121 points, which was improbable but not impossible. Given Johnson-Thompson’s best at the distance was around six seconds to good, she had a chance.
And with that opportunity, she busted a gut. Johnson-Thompson would clock the fastest 800m of her life, crossing in 2:04.90, but Thiam is warrior and she too set a personal best, running 2:10.62. In the final reckoning she had pulled it off – of her lead, 36 points remained and her haul of 6880 had ensured another gold.
For Johnson-Thompson, the wait for those mathematics to be confirmed was torturous. She first sat on the purple track and stared at the scoreboard and after an age, when the digits flashed up, she collapsed on to her back, exhausted but with the smile of an athlete who showed something approaching her best.
She was beaten by a three-time champion, a feat which will surely never be repeated, and after the race the pair reflected on a gruelling two days together
Thiam secured yet another heptathlon gold for Belgium after holding on to lead in the 800m
It is a harsh fact that she has never beaten Thiam when the Belgian is on the top of her game. The only occasion, when Johnson-Thompson won gold at the worlds in Doha, came when her rival had an elbow injury. The second world title of the Brit’s career, in Budapest in 2023, was secured in Thiam’s absence.
But there is no shame in being second to a legend. Far from it. And so she hugged Thiam and departed the Stade de France with justified pride and a nagging hole largely filled.
Until that point, it had been a day of drama that crept up and down again.
Having led Thiam by 48 points overnight, achieved through a collectively impressive showing in the hurdles, high jump, shot put and 200m, the imperative fell on a big leap in the long jump. Once upon a time that would be a given – John-Thompson has cleared 6.93m at her best, albeit in individual competition and not under the burdens of a heptathlon.
Here, the signs were not at all promising. She aborted her first jump on the board, her second attempt was a decidedly modest 6.04m, and suddenly she was chuntering, downbeat, and looking concerned. When Aston Moore, the old sage who has done so much to revive her career, sought to talk some life into Johnson-Thompson over the railing, it was met with the bleakest of nods.
With one jump to go, she found another gear when it mattered, as she had with the shot put and high jump on Friday. The measurement of 6.4m was around 20cm below her par, and indeed 1cm shy of Thiam, but it kept her in the lead and limited the bleeding.
Katarina Johnson-Thompson’s quest for Olympic gold had suffered a huge blow in the javelin
With speer in hand, there was never a realistic prospect of Johnson-Thompson retaining the advantage over the Belgian, the best thrower in the field, so it became a matter of staying in some kind of contention and protecting the rungs beneath her. That was emphatically secured when she launched the javelin 45.49m, the second furthest of her career. A small fist pump captured its importance.
Thiam’s hurl of 54.04m was more in line with expectation and what it of course meant was she had a 121-point lead and one hand on the gold going into the evening’s showdown. For Johnson-Thompson it was a tall order and to be fair she stood up well. Against anyone other than a giant it might have been enough.