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Deep in winter training last November, Keely Hodgkinson was “absolutely flying” in training when she first felt a niggle in her knee. It quickly worsened, with tests revealing a torn ligament which, given the importance of the year ahead, was an understandable concern.
It was a concern in the medium term because it ruled her out of winning what would have been a first global title at the Glasgow World Indoor Championships, where there were hopes she could challenge the 800 metres world record. It was a concern in the longer term because it meant she missed a host of important training sessions during weeks spent recuperating away from the track. And it was an immediate concern because the only way she could keep fit was doing things like cross training and work in the swimming pool.
“She hates that because the chlorine messes her hair up and she’s always very conscious about that,” explains her coach Trevor Painter.
Hodgkinson, a firm favourite to win Olympic 800m gold in Paris, does not fit the stereotypical mould of the laser-focused, single-minded athlete. She does not take any interest in the science or theory behind her training regime, instead preferring to simply turn up at the track and receive instructions to follow. She is rarely, if ever, on time, with Painter allowing a 15-minute grace period for scheduled start times that she nonetheless regularly misses. This week, she has happily shrugged off the gentle rebuke of some Team GB staff members at her preference for Coco Chanel sunglasses and a Louis Vuitton handbag over regulation Adidas kit.
She is, according to Painter, “a free spirit. If we contain her, put her in a box and tell her you’ve got to conform to this and want you to be like that, she’ll not be the same person.”
It was part of the reason for the decisions Painter and his wife, former world 800m medalist Jenny Meadows, took when their highest-profile athlete picked up that knee injury.
The first thing they did was rule her out of the indoor season. In fact, by the time the World Indoor Championships came around in March, she was running fast enough in training to potentially still have won gold despite multiple missed weeks. But the Olympics were the sole priority and made everything else largely irrelevant.
The second thing they did was to seize the unexpected opportunity the injury afforded to allow her some time away from athletics. Hodgkinson had been invited to attend the prestigious British Vogue “Forces For Changes” event the day after she was due to fly to a winter training camp in South Africa.
“Keely said she wouldn’t be able to go because of the camp, but I really don’t want her to come to the end of her career and think she didn’t have fun and take opportunities,” says Meadows.
“I spoke to Trevor and said, if she comes to South Africa three days later, what would she really miss? So I called her back and said she should go. I’m so pleased she went because she loved it. There have to be those moments where you let them not be athletes, and go off and have some fun.”
Hodgkinson’s performances on the track this summer have certainly shown no ill effects of that missed time. After thrashing her main Olympic rival Mary Moraa, of Kenya, in her first 800m race of the year, she went on to win the European title despite suffering from an illness so acute that a British Athletics doctor produced a PowerPoint presentation listing all the risks that running in the race would entail.
In her final Olympic preparation run at last weekend’s London Diamond League, she clocked 1min 54.61sec – the fastest 800m anywhere in the world since Caster Semenya in 2018.
“A lot of this year has been about perseverance,” says Hodgkinson. “It’s not gone smoothly when I think about it. I’ve had a lot of challenges personally, on the track and off it. To see it all come together in the last 10 days has been very satisfying.
“I’ve just worked hard, kept my head down and even when I was injured and out for a while, it felt like one thing after another. In those times you just have to be consistent, keep going and that’s how I’ve got where I am. Missing indoors was a blessing in disguise, allowing me to put together solid back-to-back weeks, and we’re seeing those results now.”
Painter has also identified a noticeable positive change in Hodgkinson’s demeanour in the build-up to these Paris Games. She recently revealed the comedown after her debut Olympics, where she won silver at Tokyo 2020, was so severe that she suffered some form of depression. It also thrust her into the limelight while still a teenager – something that she initially struggled to cope with.
“She has been through some tough times the last couple of years but it’s hard to come to terms with all that at a young age,” says Painter. “We see it in football with young kids bursting on the scene. I know Fergie [Alex Ferguson] was always really good at protecting Ryan Giggs in the early days and didn’t want him to have much attention. Suddenly you’ve got all these people wanting to talk to you and money on the table for this, that and the other, and it can be daunting when you are trying to train and run.
“She is starting to be more like the old Keely. She has definitely come to terms with things and she is a lot bubblier, happier and effervescent again.”
The proof is evident on the track where Hodgkinson is doing all she can to make the absence of America’s reigning Olympic champion Athing Mu a moot point. Hodgkinson has now run faster than Mu’s lifetime best, with the American finishing way down the field on her only start since falling at the US Olympic Trials – a dramatic incident that ruled her out of defending her title.
So, if Hodgkinson does deliver the podium-topping moment now expected of her in Paris, how will she cope with even greater levels of attention?
“She’d be fine now,” says Painter. “It just means she can buy more Louis Vuitton handbags so she’ll be happy. A Louis Vuitton handbag goes everywhere with her.”
