Golden girl Keely Hodgkinson is taking fame in her stride but she must avoid the traps that befell Emma Raducanu Keely Hodgkinson is Great Britain's new golden girl after shining at Paris 2024 The 22-year-old from Wigan has the world at her feet after winning 800m gold Emma Raducanu has built her brand significantly since winning the US Open in 2021 but she has struggled to recreate her best form on the tennis court By Riath Al-samarrai Published: 22:30, 10 August 2024 | Updated: 22:30, 10 August 2024 e-mail View comments The woman who was once the golden girl told me a story about baked beans and Pyrex dishes earlier this week. The conversation had touched on the spoils of victory and the way it was, so the kind of rewards that existed six decades ago for 800metre champions. Suffice to say it was different for Ann Brightwell — Ann Packer back then — from how it will be for Keely Hodgkinson.
'I don't imagine it will be too similar,' Ann told me, and you shouldn't detect any resentment in that, because there is none. She is 82 now and a bundle of fun on any topic, including those concerning the day at the Tokyo Olympics of 1964 when she won the 800m gold medal. She was 22 and her fiancé, the late Robbie Brightwell, was the captain of the British athletics team, so when she crossed the finish she ran into his arms for a kiss.
That made all the Japanese papers and a good few at home as well. 'A really lovely fuss,' as she put it. And then came the other prizes.
'I remember.