Keely Hodgkinson is drinking a bottle of chocolate milk in the evening sun in the garden of the house she owns in Potchefstroom, South Africa. She has just completed her third session of a so-called ‘down day’ on her altitude training camp, starting at 9am with a five-mile run, followed by strength and conditioning in the gym after lunch and then 45 minutes on the cross-trainer later in the afternoon.
‘I’ve been doing the same thing for years and it’s not let me down yet,’ the Olympic 800 metres champion says to Mail Sport with a smile. ‘It’s the weather that makes it brutal. It was 35 degrees today and doing a session in that is an absolute killer. Obviously, it’s better than doing it at home in the cold. But I travel so much now, I can’t wait to go home.’
Hodgkinson returns home next weekend after what will have been a month away, just in time for BBC Sports Personality of the Year on Tuesday week in Media City, a stone’s throw from her apartment in Salford.
The SPOTY shortlist is announced on Monday and Team GB’s golden girl is the overwhelming favourite to land the prestigious award. Should the public vote go as expected, Hodgkinson would be the fourth successive female winner – after Emma Raducanu, Beth Mead and Mary Earps – but the first women from athletics to triumph since Kelly Holmes 20 years ago.
‘Imagine if I was to follow in her footsteps again? I think she would like that,’ says the 22-year-old, referring to the fact her Olympic 800m gold was the first by a Brit since Holmes in 2004.
‘It would be a great honour to know that people really enjoyed watching me in Paris and what I did this year. Hopefully I can join the great roster that has been before me of powerful women who dedicate themselves to their sport.’
British athlete Keely Hodgkinson won the women’s Olympic 800m final in Paris over the summer
Her stunning success has brought with it a new-found celebrity status, being asked to present an NTA award back in September
Hodgkinson could become the fourth successive female winner of Sports Personality of the Year
Talk of ceremonies brings us to the last one Hodgkinson attended, the National Television Awards in September, where she was asked to present the prize for best drama performance. Was stepping out on stage at the O2 Arena more nerve-racking than taking to the track at the Stade de France? ‘Oh my God, 100 per cent,’ admits Hodgkinson. ‘I was absolutely s***ting myself!
‘I was rehearsing what to say in my head a million times. I’m confident on camera, but when it comes to speaking in front of loud crowds, it’s not something I have a lot of experience in yet.
‘Everybody else who was presenting had a lot of experience in TV. I had Graham Norton before me and Holly Willoughby after. They were like, “You’re going to be fine” and I’m like, “How do you do this for a living?”.
‘Everyone was going on and chatting to the crowd, so I couldn’t go on and just be like, “Right, the nominees are”. So I found a happy medium, but it was quite scary.’
That night was just one of a host of glitzy events Hodgkinson has been invited to following her stunning success in Paris. Other highlights include the Burberry show at the London Fashion Week and the Armani equivalent in Milan.
‘They were really cool,’ says the fashion-conscious star, who has appeared on the covers of Ella and Wonderland magazines. ‘I love it when I dress up for a day. It’s almost like you can step into this world of a different life for a period of time and then come back to reality.’
Another dream-like experience for Hodgkinson came when she was presented on the pitch at Old Trafford before Manchester United’s Premier League clash with Tottenham in September.
‘It was really nice to be recognised by the team that I’ve supported my entire life,’ she says. ‘We met Sir Alex Ferguson, which was crazy. He was very nice, very chatty. I showed him my gold medal. He said, “You’ll only appreciate this in 20 years’ time when you’re done”. He said he watched my race, but who knows. People say that to me and I’m like “Did you?!”.’
Hodgkinson admitted that fateful night in Paris was far less nerve-wracking than the NTAs
She was given the chance to go out at Old Trafford before Man United’s defeat by Tottenham
The track star has been invited to a host of glitzy events including the Armani show in Milan
There is a good chance he did, given 9.1million viewers tuned in to the BBC on the evening of August 5 to watch Hodgkinson land her first global title, the broadcaster’s highest audience of the whole of Paris 2024.
The Atherton athlete has since seen her Instagram following soar from around 180,000 to 515,000. She counts her most famous new follower as British actress Amy Jackson, who she met in Milan, and she also received a congratulatory comment from David Beckham, although she clarifies: ‘He doesn’t follow me, he just said congrats.’
Before the Games, Hodgkinson told Mail Sport she would buy a beige Porsche Cayman – which retail from £55,000 – should she win gold and pocket the £39,500 prize pot. Did she follow through with her pledge? ‘Ha! No,’ she admits. ‘I decided I’d kind of lived it in my head and now I’m not really bothered about it! The car I have is perfectly fine and there’s probably better things I can put my money to than a car.’
Hodgkinson instead treated herself to a lavender Chanel bag, to match the colour of the Stade de France track, and a gold Cartier ring engraved with ‘Olympic champion’, to go with the silver ones which mark her three previous global medals. She has also had the words ‘Amour’ and ‘Paris’ tattooed under her ears.
There were holidays to Marbella and Dubai during her six weeks off, a break which was longer than planned because of a minor knee injury which prematurely ended her season. Did she have any big nights out? ‘None of your business!’ she laughs. But Hodgkinson does admit to being recognised more than ever when she has been out.
‘I wouldn’t say my life has changed too much, but I can see the difference between a silver and a gold, definitely,’ she says. ‘I get stopped in the street a lot more. I could be anywhere – shopping in Selfridges or in a coffee shop – whereas before it was specifically at a track. I think it’s the blonde hair. It makes me quite recognisable!
‘I would never really consider it to be fame. I more see it as people appreciating and watching the sport. A couple of times people have stopped to say they really enjoyed watching it and their daughters were inspired by it and want to run now. Parents force their kids to ask for a photo! It’s really nice that people did enjoy it to the point they look up to me.’
Undoubtedly, Hodgkinson is now one of the most recognisable and marketable sportswomen in the country. But despite brands throwing themselves her way, she has purposely not yet added to her portfolio of partners, which currently contains Nike, Omega, Rimmel and Maurten.
Hodgkinson (pictured alongside Skepta, Katarina Johnson-Thompson and Jack Draper) is one of the most recognisable sportswomen in the country
Despite it being a gold medal effort, Hodgkinson claimed her 800m final performance was a ‘7/10’
‘I’ve had some really fun opportunities and stuff to consider, but I’m in no rush to sign anything,’ she explains. ‘I want it all to be right and track will always be the No1 priority. Nothing will compromise that for me. That’s very important because that’s what’s got me here today.’
Certainly, Hodgkinson was never going to let anything distract from her Olympic gold medal quest after the pain of three straight silvers. Her laser-like focus was apparent throughout an unbeaten season, when she also defended her European title and lowered her British record to 1min 54.61sec, the sixth fastest time in history.
Such are her high standards, she only gives herself a ‘seven out of 10’ for her winning run of 1:56.72 in the Olympic final. ‘It wasn’t my best put-together race and I could feel my semi-final run from the day before in my legs,’ she admits. ‘But I was in such good shape that no matter how it went, I felt like I was still going to be hard to beat.
‘It turned out to be such an amazing moment that I’ll never forget. I miss being there. But it motivates me to want to do it again.’
Hodgkinson found such motivation harder to come by three years ago following her Games debut in Tokyo. After claiming a shock silver aged 19, she suffered with ‘post-Olympic blues’ which morphed into depression. This time, though, she was better equipped to cope with the comedown.
‘I learnt a lot from going through all of that,’ says Hodgkinson. ‘This time, my approach has been if you don’t get too high, you can’t come too low, so I try to keep my emotions very stable.
‘Paris was amazing and I wanted to enjoy everything that came with it. When I had my down time, I maximised it to its fullest. But I got to a point where I was ready to get back into a routine. I want to be back in that shape I was in and see how much faster I can go.’
That need for speed is why Hodgkinson is back putting in the hard yards in Potchefstroom with the rest of the M11 Track Club, the Manchester-based group led by the husband-and-wife coaching team of Trevor Painter – a contender for Coach of the Year at SPOTY – and Jenny Meadows.
Hodgkinson has already turned her attention to her next targets – like breaking the world record
Former British 800m star Jenny Meadows (pictured) is part of the M11 team behind Hodgkinson
It was Meadows who asked her athlete moments after crossing the line in Paris what more there was to achieve, to which Hodgkinson responded: ‘World record.’ Four months on, it is clear that Jarmila Kratochvilova’s 1983 time of 1:53.28 – the longest-standing track record – remains firmly in her thoughts.
‘This is the first year where I have actually thought that we can get close to that world record,’ says Hodgkinson. ‘It might not happen next year or the year after that, but it’s definitely a goal in mind. It’s going to take the perfect race and conditions, but if it’s meant to happen it will happen.’
There are, though, more immediate goals, such as breaking Jolanda Ceplak’s 22-year-old indoor 800m world record of 1:55.82. Hodgkinson’s indoor best is currently 1:57.18. She also has her sights set on winning three gold medals next year – at the European Indoors in Apeldoorn and World Indoors in Nanjing in March, then the World Championships in Tokyo in September.
‘I would like a gold in every championship,’ she says. ‘I already have European outdoor, European indoor and Olympic golds, but I need world outdoor and world indoor golds.’
While Hodgkinson could complete that collection in just nine months’ time, she is planning a decade of dominance. In fact, it is possible that she could compete at another three Olympics, making it five in total, with Painter previously pointing out how Holmes was 34 when she won in Athens, the age Hodgkinson would be at Brisbane 2036.
‘Yeah, but she didn’t start when she was 19!’ laughs Hodgkinson. ‘I’d love to run for as long as I can and for as long as I mentally can, but by time I’m 34 I will have been competing in Olympics for 15 years, which is a long time by an athlete. But if I can, then it would be great because I will never get this time again.’
When her time does come to an end, how does Hodgkinson hope she will remembered? ‘I would like to be considered one of the best athletes that Britain has ever seen,’ she says. ‘And even one of the best the world has ever seen.’
