‘Preserve reeling in medals!’ Keely Hodgkinson impressed by Mo Farah and Jessica Ennis-Hill | Olympics Information

Sky Sports activities received to know Keely Hodgkinson as she prepares for the brutal 800m occasion on the Paris 2024 Olympic Video games; She opens up on how she was impressed by the likes of Mo Farah and Jessica Ennis-Hill

The Olympic girls’s 800m Closing is shaping as much as be certainly one of, if not essentially the most aggressive, dramatic, emotional races of Paris 2024.

Why? As a result of the runners concerned that might contest gold, silver and bronze have been tussling in races with each other for the reason that final Olympics and Group GB’s Keely Hodgkinson is within the combine, together with the USA’s Athing Mu and Kenya’s Mary Moraa.

Do not rule out one other Brit in Jemma Reekie, who got here fourth within the Tokyo Closing.

Hodgkinson although has stardust to sprinkle over two laps of the observe. As a 19-year on the Tokyo Video games in 2021 she took silver – what a method to announce herself to the World.

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Hodgkinson believes her 800m rivalry with Athing Mu and Mary Moraa is ‘nice’ for the game and needs to point out that she will be able to come out on high in opposition to them on the Olympics

She retains decreasing her private finest and at present stands at tenth quickest on the all-time record at 1 minute 55.19 seconds.

Now 22, she’s quick and far more skilled. The place Tokyo was a blur the place her adrenalin went stratospheric after her silver and she or he barely slept for days, now she views 800m as a job. One she is superb at.

Key to her success are her coaches. A husband and spouse crew who deal with Keely as if she had been certainly one of their very own. Trevor Painter and Jenny Meadows, who herself was a critically good 800m runner taking bronze on the World Championships in 2009, push Hodgkinson to and past the ache barrier, however then make the exhausting coaching days enjoyable.

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Hodgkinson says she needs to show her silver medal from Tokyo into gold in Paris and shall be ‘fearless’ in her strategy as she seems to make it occur

Hodgkinson instructed Sky Sports activities: “I just really gelled with Jenny and Trevor when I first met them when I was like 15, so I knew them way before I joined their setup.

“And I simply suppose, like Trevor’s most likely mentioned earlier than, his focus is ‘a contented athlete is a quick athlete’, so I simply attempt to create that setting. However I believe now we have a very good relationship in that he is aware of when he is annoying me and he is aware of once I’m not within the temper for his dad jokes!”

Watching them training in Manchester, you see and hear the relationship. It is ‘back and forth’ with humour, but there’s an instant switch when the serious hard work has to be done: ” Mo Farah and Jess Ennis, it is like ‘how do they do it yearly over and over?’ And I look again now and suppose ‘oh you will have performed it now for a great couple of years’, however it’s simply protecting that going and I believe it is the one factor I might love to do, to only hold reeling within the medals.”

And ‘reeling in the medals’ is what she has done. At European level so far it’s been gold. Add to that two World Championship silver medals and the silver from the Tokyo Olympics: “Thus far I’ve medalled at each championships I’ve ever been to which is sort of exhausting to do… sadly I have been second each time!”

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Hodgkinson tells the story of how she became 95 per cent deaf in one ear during her early teens following an operation to have a tumour removed

The next step is to get ahead of an American and a Kenyan: “I will most likely say it is within the thoughts, actually. I believe there is a large distinction between racing for a medal and racing for a gold medal, as a result of if you happen to watch again a great deal of races the place folks have gone for gold, they’ve ended up 4th, fifth, sixth as a result of they’ve messed it up.

“So now I’m at a point where I’m like ‘right, well how do we get that gold?’ I think every year I’ve got closer and I’m in better shape as the seasons gone, so hopefully that all comes together in a few weeks and I’ll be better than I was before – so that’s a great position to be going into Paris.

“However I do really suppose it is all within the thoughts – the tiny cut up seconds that you simply make you actually simply must imagine and run a bit fearless, as a result of if you happen to do not threat it you will not get the rewards.”

Coaches Painter and Meadows know they have a special athlete and have invested lots of time – so much so that the first word from their now three-year-old daughter Arabella was something that sounded very much like “Keely or eeely!”

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Hodgkinson tells the story behind each of her tattoos and the importance of expressing herself in different ways away from the track

As Meadows put it: “She is ready to harm herself. It takes bravery to begin a session realizing you are going to find yourself like that (on the ground). It is an actual killer occasion.”

‘A killer event’ is not a bad way to describe the 800m – at the highest level, the athletes on the start line effectively sprint two laps of a track! Hodgkinson intends not to be fazed: “When folks take into consideration the day of an Olympic ultimate it may be very demanding. You already know ‘oh god, I’ve labored this complete 12 months for 2 minutes to get it proper’

“But I think one of my pros is I look forward to it so much that I don’t even think about getting it wrong. So I’ll sit down and say to myself ‘well, I’ve raced these girls a million times’, and I almost don’t think about it being this big Olympic final.

“It is simply two laps of a observe that I’ve performed many, many occasions.”

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