KATALYST FOR CHANGE
World title has broken my jinx ...now I can defeat arch-rival Thiam and take Olympic gold
GOLDEN GIRL Katarina Johnson-thompson says her pentathlon world title will catapult her to the glory that has eluded her for so long.
Kat finally got the cream when claiming World Indoor gold in Birmingham on Friday, with 50 points to spare over nearest rival Ivona Dadic.
The horrors of her recent global campaigns were forgotten as she came out on top over five disciplines against what admittedly was only a moderate field.
She then quickly set her sights on adding gold medals in this year’s Commonwealth Games and European Championships — and even the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
“I want more, I want this to be just the start,” said the 25-yearold. “Every sports person wants the Olympic title, and I have two years to get myself up to that standard. I believe in myself.
“I won here with a below-par high jump and long jump. I just need one of those runs where I get it all together. I believe I am capable of doing that and being competitive at this level.”
From the moment she became European under-23 heptathlon champion five years ago, the Liverpudlian was expected to inherit the multi-eventing throne of Jessica Ennis-hill.
But that weighed heavily, and until Friday night KJT had been unable to put together a complete performance, and has been eclipsed by Olympic and World champion Nafi Thiam. In Beijing, Rio and London, KJT suffered major heartache from which less resilient characters might not have recovered. For a while it seemed she would not.
“I knew I’d got the talent in there and one of these days it would come out,” said Johnsonthompson after finally banishing her demons, albeit in the Belgian Thiam’s absence.
“It was just perseverance. I still have a lot of work to do, but I don’t believe anyone is unbeatable.
“Everyone can have good and bad days, anything can happen on the day. I have experienced that.”
Johnson-thompson admits to “always crying” when watching people cross the finish line to achieve their dreams. And she cites the Miracle of Istanbul, when her beloved Liverpool came back from the dead to win the 2005 European Cup, as her major source of inspiration. “That game is why I choose never to give up,” she explained. “Every Scouser perseveres through everything because we think we can turn it around. “It has been a difficult couple of years for me. I moved my training base to France in December 2016 and it sort of messed up my 2017 as everything was up in the air. “I didn’t have a place to live properly for a long time. I was unsettled learning new techniques, not really understanding anything, with people talking French and being completely on my own after being mothered all my life. “But I have really grown up this last year.”