PARIS, (Reuters) – Belgium’s Nafissatou Thiam won her third successive Olympic women’s heptathlon gold medal on Friday, all but securing victory with a big javelin throw to deny Britain’s Katarina Johnson-Thompson who battled to the silver.
Thiam, the first multi-event athlete in Olympic history to win three titles, scored 6,880 points, overtaking Johnson-Thompson in the javelin to move ahead of the Briton by 121 points going into the final 800m, which was the equivalent to an 8.6-second advantage.
Twice world champion Johnson-Thompson needed the 800 race of her life for gold and although she clocked a career best two minutes 4.90 seconds, it was only enough to finish with 6,844 points as the Belgian ran a career-best 2:10.62.
“I knew (Johnson-Thompson) was going to go for it because she had nothing to lose,” Thiam told reporters. “But I worked hard in the 800, I was confident. I tried to keep her in my vision the whole time and never let go. I’m very proud of myself for being able to achieve that dream.”
