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"'I've just had the season of my life"- Cole Hocker opens up on handling the pressure of being an Olympic champion & continuing season despite success
American middle-distance runner Cole Hocker opened up on managing the pressure of being an Olympic gold medalist at the 2024 Brussels Diamond League finals. Hocker recently finished third in the Diamond League finals, clocking a sensational 3:30.94 in the men’s 1500m, behind Jakob Ingebrigtsen (3:30.37) and Timothy Cheruiyot (3:30.93).
Hocker rose to prominence following a sensational outing at the 2024 Paris Games, delivering an Olympic record performance in the 1500m with a time of 3:27.65 to take home the gold medal ahead of pre-race favorites Josh Kerr and Jakob Ingebrigtsen. While Kerr managed to win the silver with a national record performance of 3:27.79, Ingebrigtsen finished just outside the podium in his signature event, coming fourth at 3:28.24.
After securing third place in the Diamond League Finals, Cole Hocker was asked if his consistent performances had been encouraging. He responded he was happy with how he handled external pressures beyond the mental and physical toll of the Olympic Games.
During the press interaction, Cole Hocker said (via Citius Mag), starting from 0.10 onwards:
“Yeah, absolutely. Quite literally overnight, I became the Olympic champion, and so I think these three races were a test that I hadn't had in this sport before. I'm really happy with how I've managed that because, outside of the mental and physical fatigue of the Olympics and the high that comes with it, there is external pressures that, you know, I do the best job I can to limiting those, and I'm pretty good at it right now, but it's still pretty much impossible to ignore.”
“Even if you don't see anything, I know there's expectation on me. I have a lot of expectation on myself, and it would have been easy to say, 'I've just had the season of my life, the best race I could ever ask for at the Olympics,' and call it a season,” he added.
The 23-year-old also explained why he chose to continue his season after his success at the Paris Olympics, adding:
“But I made the decision to stick with it and optimize this moment in my life because I know how valuable it is. I'm only going to be in this window once in my life. Of course, I hope I get the chance to defend this in four years, but it's such a unique time in my life that I wanted to keep it alive, keep the season alive, even though it was really hard.”
A look into Cole Hocker’s performances at the 2024 Diamond League season
Cole Hocker made his first appearance in a Diamond League meet this season at the Prefontaine Classic where he came seventh in the men’s mile with a 3:48.95. Following his remarkable victory at the Olympics, the Indianapolis-born athlete competed at the Lausanne Diamond League, finishing second, clocking a 3:29.85.
Before concluding his Diamond League campaign in Brussels, the 2024 World Indoor Championships silver medalist featured at the Zurich Diamond League where he secured third place with a 3:30.46, behind Yared Nuguse (3:29.21) and Jakob Ingebrigtsen (3:29.52).
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