Tokyo triumph puts Keely in the spotlight at Paris 2024
Check out Channel 4 at 5pm on Saturday 20th July to see how top National Lottery-funded stars, like Keely, prep for the Olympics.
She was only 19 at the time and might not have taken part in the 2020 Games if it hadn’t been postponed by a year due to the Covid pandemic. Now, instead of an underdog, 22-year-old Keely will arrive in Paris as a favourite for one of the top medals.
“It’s quite a privileged position to be in,” Keely told BBC Sport. “It's exciting but a little bit daunting, and a very different position to what I was in last time.”
The enormity of what Keely achieved in Tokyo is underlined by the fact she broke Kelly Holmes’ British record when she won Team GB’s first women’s 800m medal since 2004.
In Paris, she’ll be up against Athing Mu of the USA (the winner of the 800m gold medal in Tokyo) and Kenyan Mary Moraa, last year’s World Champion.
Keely is one of the top athletes appearing in two fly-on-the-wall documentaries to be screened on Channel 4 in partnership with The National Lottery.
A total of nine athletes – Olympians and Paralympians – will allow fans a behind-the-scenes view of what it takes to succeed at the very highest level of sport. Episode one, which airs on Channel 4 at 5pm on Saturday 20th July (and repeated at 10pm on Sunday 21st July), will follow four athletes dreaming of becoming Olympic champions. Episode two, which airs later on in August, shines a spotlight on five outstanding Paralympians.
Viewers will be shown how National Lottery funding helps our top athletes get access to the best coaches, nutritionists, physiotherapists and psychologists as well as state-of-the-art training facilities. By playing The National Lottery you also help cover travel and living expenses, allowing our sporting heroes to put their entire focus on winning a medal. When it comes to elite athletes, your ticket is their ticket to Paris.
Keely is excited that viewers of the Channel 4 documentaries will get to see the hard work required to compete at the highest level and the way National Lottery players have helped transform GB’s performance at the Olympics and Paralympics.
She said, “Getting to compete at an Olympic Games and representing your country is such a special feeling, but people watching from their TVs at home never see what it takes to reach the start line. National Lottery players have transformed Athletics and Para-Athletics in the UK, but you don’t often see how that investment powers us to win. You don’t see the hours in the gym, the time spent with physiotherapists, nutritionists, strength and conditioning, and our coaches working through our training plans. None of this would be possible without that investment.
“Being part of this documentary will give people an insight into how we train, our day-to-day lives before a major competition and the challenges you have to overcome to race against the best in the world. I love my sport and I want to let people see what goes into those few minutes on the track in front of the world.”
15th July 2024
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