- Katerina Johnson-Thompson clinched her first-ever Olympic medal on Friday
- The British heptathlete expressed her pride after winning silver in Paris
- The 31-year-old also revealed why she was wearing a silver tiara after the race
Team GB heptathlon star Katarina Johnson-Thompson has lifted the lid on why she wore a tiara after claiming a silver medal in the women’s heptathlon at the Olympics.
Johnson-Thompson led the field after the first day of competition but ultimately had to settle for second place as Belgium’s Nafi Thiam beat her by just 36 points to win her third-straight Olympic gold.
After the race, Jordan-Thompson was all smiles and was walking around with a tiara on, although no-one quite knew how the accessory ended up in the her hands.
However, the Liverpudlian revealed how it all came to be in an interview with BBC Radio 5 Live and joked the photographers were none the wiser she’d finished behind Thiam.
‘Oh my god, I think one of the photographers thought I’d won because they kept on asking me to take pictures,’ Johnson-Thompson said to BBC Radio 5 Live.
Katarina Johnson-Thompson sported a tiara after taking home the silver medal in the heptathlon
The 31-year-old happily posed with the flag as she ended her wait for an Olympic meda
‘I was like, “I’m going to have to take this off”, but someone threw it.
‘It was a silver one, so I thought it was for me. I hope it was for me.’
An Olympic medal had been a long time coming for the 31-year-old.
Her tilt in Tokyo was significantly hampered when she ruptured her Achilles tendon in the lead-up.
Although she recovered enough to a point where she was able to compete, Johnson-Thompson tore her calf during the 200m portion of the heptathlon where she was later disqualified for falling outside of her lane.
Johnson-Thompson was in fine form in the years preceding the Games in Paris, winning gold in the heptathlon at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and replicating the feat at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest.
Going into the final event – the 800m – Johnson-Thompson remained with a chance of taking home the gold medal, requiring an 8.5 second gap between her and Thiam in the event.
Johnson-Thompson (right) finished agonisingly close behind gold medallist Nafi Thiam (left) of Belgium
Not even a personal best in the 800m was enough for the Liverpudlian to win a gold medal
The 31-year-old managed a personal best time of 2 minutes 4.90 seconds but it was sadly not enough, as Thiam also clocked her best-ever time at 2 minutes 10.62 seconds.
‘I wanted a medal, but I just wanted to have a chance at the start of the 800m and that’s what I had,’ Johnson-Thompson said.
‘It was a very far off chance – eight seconds – but that’s what this sport is.
‘I was running for gold and it was pretty close. But Nafi is the greatest of all time. It is undisputed now. It’s an honour to have an actual rivalry against her.’
