Keely Hodgkinson was a sporty child, but not in the way you might think. At primary school in Atherton, Greater Manchester, she was never happier than when in the swimming pool. But as the daughter of keen runners who had spotted her ability early on, perhaps her destiny was already fixed.
“I used to have arguments with my dad because he would say you’re a much better runner,” said Hodgkinson . Talent ran in the family’s genes – her mother belonged to Leigh Harriers, the club that would eventually be hers too. But it took a bribe with a pair of track shoes to set her on course, together with her very own fan girl moment.
When Hodgkinson was 10, she watched Jessica Ennis-Hill claim gold in the heptathlon at the London 2012 Olympics after racing to victory in the event’s 800m final . “She was a big inspiration to me,” Hodgkinson has said. The swimsuit got packed away and the running started in earnest.
In the twelve years since, she has gone on to be crowned an Olympic medallist herself and on Monday evening secured Great Britain’s first gold on the track since Mo Farah’s double win in 2016. “I think being the champion, no one can ever take that away from me,” she said after her victory in Paris. Ennis-Hill, once her idol, has weighed in with advice since, advising Hodgkinson of the rarified atmosphere she has recently entered.
“Your life will change overnight after gold,” she said. And it has, even though Hodgkinson had already clocked up three European titles and two World Championship silver medals. As recently as the run-up to the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, where Hodgkinson won silver in the 800m event, she was still a university student reading criminology for whom running was something of a side-hustle.
Now she is poised for superstardom after conquering her chosen discipline. After her win on Monday, as Hodgkinson did a victory lap around the track while wearing a crown, draped in the union jack, everything about her was golden, from her adorable manner to her long, blonde swishing ponytail. The love between her and her parents was clear when she ran to embrace them.
They had travelled to Paris with 100 friends, all of whom were there to cheer her on. In many respects, what makes Hodgkinson so loveable is that she is so relatable, despite running around 35 miles a week, training six days out of seven, multiple times a day and, of course, now being a 22-year-old Olympian. The pair who have steered her to victory from when she was a little girl are husband and wife coaches, Trevor Painter and Jenny Meadows , founders of the M11 Track Club in Manchester.
They have trained her for years with a mixture of discipline and kindness, permissive with her punctuality to training sessions. They have also given Hodgkinson space to be herself, intuiting that squashing her individuality would sound the death knell of her career. Only a handful of people believed she could win a medal at Tokyo: her coaches, parents and herself.
It neatly sums up her support system over the last decade. “We have a saying that 15 minutes is okay,” Painter has said of Hodgkinson’s lateness for training. “Sometimes it’s 20 to 25 minutes and she just strolls in smiling.
I’m not too bothered about it because Keely is a free spirit. If we contain her, put her in a box and tell her you’ve got to conform to this and we want you to be like that, she’ll not be the same person, that kind of free-spirited nature makes her who she is.” Hodgkinson prepares for her races by showering and applying fake tan, styling her hair and doing her makeup.
She often has music blaring. On race day, her Louis Vuitton bag contains all of her kit. She claimed her gold medal wearing long purple acrylic nails.
But it has taken time for her to find peace with her image as an athlete. Hodgkinson has spoken openly in the past about how many young female athletes walk a line between wanting to be feminine and wanting to win, with a hard training regime that gives them a body that is built not to let them down. It can be tough sometimes – whoever you are – when you are growing up and look different to your peers.
“I think my only struggle maybe recently would be...
one of those general things that athletes, girls have, just looking really muscular,’ she has said. “Some days I’ll be really lean. I hate looking really lean because I think that I look ill.
” But she’s moved beyond this now, learning to love herself and her body because of the success it brings her – and the UK. “There’s like a percentage drop out rate of girls between 17 and above that drop out because of their body image, which is quite sad,” she said. “But muscular is a nice thing.
It’s not a bad thing and it’s what helps you to do really great things on the track.” What is often underestimated is the way running helps build resilience in all aspects of a young athlete’s life. Hodgkinson, like so many others, has had her own mountains to climb.
Aged 13, she had a tumour removed from the left side of her head which left her permanently deaf in that ear and temporarily unable to walk due to balance issues while she recovered. After Tokyo, she battled to cope with a bout of depression, brought about by the climax of the win having passed, of being just 19, and “normal life” stretching ahead of her. She had been a student at Leeds Beckett University and after a year out, left to concentrate on running.
“I would get up and go to training and it would be fine,” she has said. “But I felt dead inside and a bit lost. I was so young.
I really grew up quickly in those years.” The turning point was buying her own apartment, and rediscovering her sense of fun. How many people her age can do that? Running could still enrich her life.
And now, even more so. Hodgkinson’s success, beauty, radiance, love of fashion and relatability, will, it is predicted, make her very wealthy in the years to come. One expert has predicted brands will be “forming a line that runs the length of the country”.
She already has deals with Omega and Nike (No Guts. No Gold. Just Do It.
), is the face of Rimmel and an ambassador for Avene. Her agent, Dale King-Clutterbuck, is rumoured to be exploring a Netflix documentary, and even a Christmas autobiography. She has featured in Elle and Vogue .
King-Clutterbuck also has his eye on French and Italian fashion houses for her. For the moment, at least, those things can wait. Hodgkinson is holidaying with her family in Marbella before she returns to training again.
She can expect to enjoy a heroine’s welcome back home. From her apartment, Hodgkinson can see Old Trafford. Her dream, she has said, is to parade her medal around the pitch at a Manchester United home game.
Lucky club. Lucky fans. Everybody will want a piece of our new golden girl in the days and weeks to come.
After all, her magic might rub off on them..
