Keely Hodgkinson became known as Team GB’s golden girl at the Paris Olympics – and her life is only going to get even more glamorous after her latest success.
The 800m star has now been named the BBC Sports Personality of the Year for 2024, batting off competition from Luke Littler and Joe Root, who finished second and third respectively. The 22-year-old runner said: “It’s been incredible this year for me. I’m so grateful for everyone voting. And I hope everyone loved watching Paris as much as I loved competing in it.
“You look down the list of past winners – not just in track and field – British icons. It’s great to put my name up there as well.” Keely’s win marks the first time since the award’s inception in 1954 that the main prize has been claimed by women on four successive occasions, following the victories by tennis ace Emma Raducanu in 2021 and Lionesses footballers Beth Mead and Mary Earps in 2022 and 2023 respectively.
Hodgkinson’s determination and likeable personality have won over fans and fellow sports stars, and it’s now believed she is set to become even more recognisable with more brand opportunities. A sports finance expert predicts that she could earn a staggering £1million per year until the next Olympic Games in 2028, courtesy of her expected SPOTY success.
Dr Rob Wilson, commenting after Hodgkinson’s medal win during the summer, exclusively told investment platform Saxo: “Keely is already becoming one of the most recognisable faces for UK athletics. Now she has managed to grab the gold, she can expect a stellar relationship with brands, marketing agencies, and UK Athletics, becoming a poster athlete for endorsements and associated commercial activities.
“A Sports Personality of the Year win would only serve to amplify this reputation further. She will be looking at earnings surpassing £1m per year over the next Olympic cycle.” In November, it was believed that the track star’s net worth stood at around £250,000, with the athlete pocketing at least £39,000 for her gold medal triumph at the Paris Olympics, reports the Express.
She already has lucrative deals with Nike, watchmaker Omega, make-up firm Rimmel London and skincare brand Avene. However, her agent Dale King-Clutterbuck expects even bigger things to follow, with PR experts expecting major brands to “form a line the length of the country” to sign deals with her.
But despite her newfound fame and incredible achievements, Hodgkinson has remained down-to-earth and humble. Her childhood coach, Margaret Galvin, described her as “always special” after she joined running club Leigh Harrier at the age of nine before becoming a “county champion all through the age groups”.
In an interview with a local paper, the coach spoke of her sacrifices as a young woman. She said: “She was always a great trainer, and she sacrificed a lot because there are always competing things going on in a young person’s life. But Keely always put racing first; I remember her coming back from family trips to Centre Parks to compete, before heading back again.”
Margaret explained that Keely always had Paris 2024 as a “goal in her diary” and added: “She will always be a Leigh Harrier, it’s just that now she is the fastest woman in the world.” The two-time European indoor champion and Commonwealth Games silver medallist was raised in Atherton, near Wigan in Greater Manchester, and stands at 5ft 7in tall.
As well as being a middle-distance runner, Keely is a criminology graduate and passed her studies at Leeds Beckett University in 2021. Since then, she has travelled around the world competing internationally, with the support of her parents, Rachel and Dean Hodgkinson.
But it hasn’t all been smooth sailing for Keely, who suffered setbacks and heartbreak away from athletics. Not much is known about the current dating life of the star, but she revealed in October that her most recent relationship ended in January after three years.
Speaking with The Sunday Times, she said her ex-boyfriend, also a runner, lived abroad, which saw the distance between them and their hectic training schedules ultimately ended the romance. “Long-distance killed it,” she said. “He was living in Texas and then Italy, and with my schedule, we could go weeks without seeing each other. It was tough.”
She also revealed that she was now happily single, adding: “I’m not really interested in dating right now. I’ve never been on the apps. I like meeting people in real life.” Earlier this year, she also opened up to Sky Sports about a tumour which left her partially deaf in one ear at a young age.
She said: “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.” The athlete continued: “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.”
While she is now one of the speediest runners in the world, Hodgkinson was left unable to walk temporarily. She explained: “I couldn’t walk – which is weird to think – because it’s in your ear, your balance and things like that. But luckily it all went to plan. They got rid of it and I’m just left with missing hearing. It’s not too bad.”
Around that age, Keely buddied up with Lioness Ella Toone in school and the sports stars became close friends. The pair both went to Fred Longworth High and still keep in touch today. She told the Mirror in 2022: “We are just two young girls living their dreams. Ella and I went to school together. She was two years older but somehow we ended up getting on really well.
“I was always referred to as the ‘mini Ella’ growing up at school. So we kept in touch from that and she was in Tokyo last year as well. We are just two young girls living their dreams.” Toone, 24, plays as an attacking midfielder for Manchester United and the England national women’s team.
Much of Keely’s training involves running, but rather unusually, she doesn’t tend to do long runs and instead focuses on sprints. Speaking to Runner’s World last year, Hodgkinson said: “A lot of people find my training quite weird, because I don’t really do slow stuff. Long runs are not really a thing in my training plan except in the summer, because that’s when the track sessions get more intense, so that’s when you need the slower recovery days.”
To take the stress off her feet, sometimes she mixes it up with a session on the cross trainer or weights in the gym. To fuel her sessions, she usually has the same breakfast – porridge, a cup of tea and white toast. “I eat pretty well. I’m not really a person who craves takeaways or things like that, because they just don’t make me feel very good,” she explained, adding that she’d rather eat a chocolate bar than a Chinese.
Prioritising her health is part of Hodgkinson’s strong mindset, and when she sets herself a goal, she will always achieve it. Speaking about her mentality, coach Trevor Painter told The Telegraph: “There’s something special about Keely; she’s very strong when she wants to do something.” But the weight of her achievements doesn’t come lightly, and the athlete has been open about her mental health challenges in the spotlight.
“It’s very difficult going from this unknown person to then having all these contracts put on the table,” Painter explained. “She is starting to thrive off it, doing things like Vogue shoots and the front cover of Elle but, for a couple of years, it was hard.” While many of her friends are “going out partying”, Keely is living the life of a world-class athlete – but her team tries to keep everything as normal as possible and she’s good at doing it herself.
