Team GB’s golden girl dominated the 800m final to break her silver curse and win gold at the Paris Olympics. The 22-year-old had finished second at successive World Championships having won silver on her Olympic debut in Tokyo as a teenager three years ago. Hodgkinson entered the final as favourite and duly delivered on her tag with a performance to mark her occasion on the biggest stage.
Born in Atherton, Hodgkinson began running as a child with the Leigh Harriers at nine years old and was a European youth champion by 16 with English titles to her name. The Daily Star is now on WhatsApp and we want you to join us! Through the app, we'll send you the sassiest showbiz stories, some naught headline and a seismic smattering of aliens..
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If you’re curious, you can read our . Her sporting talent from a young age saw her bond a close friendship with star Ella Toone, who was two years above her in secondary school. Hodgkinson earned the nickname ‘Mini Ella’ because of her relationship with the rising footballer and her own dream in the sporting world.
The pair still remain close to this day with Toone posting a picture of the two together on the eve of Hodgkinson’s 800m final and also uploaded a video of her cheering her childhood friend over the finish line to claim gold. "We are just two young girls living their dreams. Ella and I went to school together,” Hodgkinson to the Mirror.
"She was two years older but somehow we ended up getting on really well. I was referred to as the ‘mini Ella’ so we always kept in touch." But her journey was far from plain sailing as she endured a terrifying ordeal as a 13-year-old when she was found to have a non-cancerous tumour in her left ear.
The tumour had been growing for 10 years and crushed the bones in her ear and was starting to press on her spine. Hodgkinson suffered from hearing problems and even revealed she would miss the starting gun due to the issue. She underwent surgery to remove the tumour but it left her 95 per cent deaf on one side.
"I had a mastoidectomy which is from memory a type of tumour - but non-cancerous or anything, it wasn't majorly life-threatening - that had been growing for 10 years," she told Sky Sports. "It crushed through my hearing bones and it was just touching my spine. So the risk for the operation was to take it out or keep it in.
If you keep it in and let it grow, it can hit the spine and I could end up with Facial Palsy. "Now that was quite scary for a 13-year-old girl to think that could happen, but the bones were already crushed anyway so they tried to save them but that turned out why I had a lot of hearing problems growing up." Hodgkinson’s Olympic dream was financed by her parents on modest means with finances limited from UK Athletics during her breakthrough in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic.
However, when Hodgkinson was a student at Leeds University, multi-millionaire Barrie Wells matched her funding from the National Lottery, allowing her to travel to competitions and training camps around the world. The gold medalist, however, doesn't appear to have time anyone else - and she currently appears to be single. While some of the athletes at the Paris Games are multi-millionaires, 22-year-old Hodgkinson has a comparatively modest estimated net worth of around £250,000, She also has endorsement deals with Nike and luxury watchmaker Omega.
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