KEELY HODGKINSON has revealed how she was targeted by social media trolls who questioned her commitment towards athletics during “the most insane year of my life”.
The Olympic 800 metres champion walked away from last month’s World Championships in Tokyo with a bronze medal.
Keely Hodgekinson tore her hamstring twice this year but that did not stop her from winning Bronze at the World Championship in TokyoCredit: Getty
She says she was just happy just to be on the plane to Japan after the kind of start to the year she hadCredit: PA
Hodgkinson lacked the speed training and endurance down the home straight because it was only her fifth of an injury-disrupted season.
She tore her hamstring twice, in February and then May, and was just grateful to make it on the plane to Japan in the first instance.
Yet this did not stop the online haters who slammed her for posting images of her time away from the track.
Hodgkinson said: “After I got the bronze at the world champs, there were a bunch of comments.
“People were like, ‘you should be embarrassed’. Like, ‘what a letdown of a show’.
“Or: ‘Oh she’s too busy making videos.’ But I’m like, there’s so many hours to kill when you’re out there doing nothing.
“You just have to block out what people say. But when you’re in that low point, that’s when it can affect you more.
“Even though I got the bronze, I wasn’t happy with it. I did the best I could.
“The world that we live in now, people all of a sudden have an on what you’re doing.
“From the outside, it really came across like I was doing anything but training, which was so far from the truth.
“But when you’re in those low (moments)…Normally, I’d just ignore those things.
“When I’m not competing, I keep getting hurt, things keep going wrong, I think they affect you more than what you think.
“All I want to do is run. You have to just remind yourself that social media isn’t real. Just focus on your own thing.
“I look back at the (Tokyo) race and I’m like, I made some mistakes that might cost me. But it’s over with now. What can I do?
“I take one day to be sad about it and then I don’t even think about it again.
“Twenty-four hours to cry, be upset, maybe think so-and-so. What did I learn from that? And then, okay, it didn’t happen. Carry on.”
– who is abroad on holiday at present following the Worlds – did not buy the beige that she had promised herself following her glory performance in Paris last year.
She described this year as the most insane year of her lifeCredit: Getty
The super motor “was so low” and sitting behind the wheel for a test drive was “hurting my 22-year-old knees”.
In a chat with The High Performance Podcast, in which she talked about her spirituality, she reflected on her far-from-usual 2025 campaign and how she hit rock bottom.
The Leigh athlete said: “This has been the most insane year of my life in every way possible. Personally, on and off the track.
“If you’d said to me in January, this is what’s going to happen this year, this is how it’s going to pan out, this is how you’re going to feel, I’d have been like: ‘We need a movie about this.’
“I’ve just had a lot of growth. I feel like a different person. I think I look like a different person.
“I’ve cried a lot this year but I’ve also laughed just as much.
“It’s almost like you couldn’t write it. One good thing would happen – I went to get my MBE, an incredible experience.
“Two days later, I tore my hamstring, and I’m out for the season.
“It was just the constant contrast of amazing things happening. Okay, now we’re at rock bottom.”
