Keely Hodgkinson beat ‘bone-crushing’ illness & was unable to WALK before bagging Olympic gold & Sports Personality vote
PUNCHING the air as she crossed the finish line this summer, athlete Keely Hodgkinson not only made history but changed her life forever.
The 22-year-old scooped the Olympic 800-metre gold in August in Paris and became the first Brit woman since Jessica Ennis-Hill to claim a gold in athletics since London 2012.
It’s the first Olympic victory for Keely, who previously revealed how winning three silver medals in successive years – starting at Tokyo 2020 – left her “gutted” as she longed for more.
And this summer’s triumph changed the young athletic superstar’s life forever – with an expert predicting to The Sun that she could be given a damehood, become a millionaire by next year and be flooded with branding offers.
It’s also made her a favourite to life the SPOTY prize tonight – batting off contenders Luke Littler, Joe Root, Alex Yee, Sarah Storey and Jude Bellingham.
Keely crossed the finish line with a time of 1:56.72, beating Ethiopia’s Tsige Dugma and long-term rival Mary Moraa, of Kenya, by around half a second.
It was the first 8O0m Olympic win for a British female since Dame Kelly Holmes, two decades ago.
After her win, Keely said: “I have really grown over the last couple of years and this year was the year where you could really tell that I had tried to make that step up.”
Keely’s journey to the top has been far from easy – with temporarily being robbed of her ability to walk, and losing hearing in one ear, due to a tumour in her skull that grew worrying close to her spine.
And she nearly pulled out of sport altogether during her teens and battled a crippling “post-Olympics comedown” that left her so depressed she couldn’t get out of bed.
The SPOTY crown would be the icing on the cake in a year that has seen her become a sporting hero and land lucrative deals with Rimmel and skincare brand Avene.
And according to culture and brand expert Nick Ede she is set to be flooded with more offers.
He told The Sun: “Financially she will be in the running to become a millionaire by 2025 from signing lucrative deals and personal appearances.
“I can see her getting fashion deals whether that’s with Little Mistress, like Vogue Williams or Lipsy, like the cast of Selling Sunset. She really will have many offers and options which can net her millions.
“The BBC will be looking to snap her up for a stint on Strictly or even the celebrity version of The Traitors which will be a massive ratings winner.
“She’ll also be eyed up by the producers of I’m A Celebrity and Celebrity Big Brother, both big ratings winners and she will be offered a lot of money for them and for her to appear.”
Nick says a lucrative future lies ahead for “Britain’s newest sports superstar” and believes she will quickly “become a poster girl in the UK and beyond”.
While she has 500,000 Instagram followers, rising by the hour, and big brands lining up to get her to endorse them, she comes from humble beginnings.
Sacrifices
Keely, who was raised in Atherton, Greater Manchester, was initially a swimmer before being bribed to try track events with a pair of running shoes from her dad.
In 2012, at the age of 10, she impressed at the British Schools Modern Biathlon Championships, where she placed second in a 500 metre run and soon after the medals began to pile up.
That same year Keely, inspired by heptathlete Jessica Ennis-Hill’s gold medal win at the London Olympics, racked up 17 undefeated races for Leigh Harriers.
That included a 2km course which she won with a 45-second lead and, in the following years, she would defend her track titles and break championship records.
Recalling Keely’s commitment, early mentor Margaret Galvin said the youngster “sacrificed a lot” during her early years, adding she “always special”.
She told The Mirror: “Keely always put racing first; I remember her coming back from family trips to Centre Parks to compete, before heading back again.”
Horror op
But her career was nearly derailed before it began at 13, when Keely had to undergo an operation that for a time robbed her of the ability to walk and left her 95 per cent deaf in one ear.
Keely had a non-cancerous tumour, which “had been growing for 10 years” in her skull.
She told: “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’s quite scary for a 13-year-old girl to think that could happen.”
Keely had the operation but because it was so “near the brain” she “literally couldn’t walk” after struggling with balance due to her hearing issues and couldn’t go to school for a month.
She told the High Performance podcast: “Then I had to have like three months off any kind of jumping, moving my head, even though I was so young.”
Prior to having her operation, Keely nearly bowed out of athletics altogether because she “really didn’t know how to cope with nerves”.
She was due to race a rival in Manchester and knew it would be “really close”. She claims it was only her dad’s bribing her that made her continue.
“I was just c***ping myself. I was just like, ‘I don’t want to do it. I’m too nervous’. My dad actually bribed me with a pair of shoes.
“He was like, if you do it, I’ll take you to Selfridges and get you a pair of shoes…it was probably the only time that he’s done that.
“I won by like 0.01 but I’m adamant that if I hadn’t, if he hadn’t made me do that race I would have just quit, shied away, so he really pushed me out of my comfort zone.”
‘Olympic comedown’
She suffered more doubts about her career while recovering from mastoidectomy – the surgery to remove the tumour from her skull.
Keely admits she “actually wanted to quit” due to struggling to “comeback” from no sporting activity, adding: “It was very difficult for me.”
She overcame it by participating again “for fun” and says: “Soon my competitive side kicked in and I was like ‘no’.
“I think I won my first national title when I was 15 and the next year was the European under 18s. I said to my dad I really want to make that team the next year.
“Fast forward, I ended up winning it. That was my first international debut that I won.”
In school, she was referred to as “mini Ella” after her pal Ella Toone, the future England Lioness, who was two years older than her and, like the footballer, she excelled at sport.
After Tokyo 2020, when she claimed her first silver medal in the 800m at the age of 19, Keely went through a “stage of depression”, admitting she faced a troubling “Olympic comedown”.
Going through such a high, followed by normality, left the athlete unable to get out of bed and having to take things “day by day” including trying to take joy from playing piano and seeing family.
A year later, at the World Championships, Keely claimed silver a second time – just 0.08 seconds behind opponent Athing Mu – and placed second again the following year in Budapest.
‘Millionaire’ future
After that silver medal, Keely vowed to herself “never again” while walking off the track in defiance and determination that 2024 would be her year to claim gold.
It’s an achievement she had earned at Paris 2024 and a crowning moment for the star and will undoubtedly change her life.
Nick Ede, brand and culture expert, says companies will flock to her to capitalise on her Olympic success but says it’s not just her athletic talent that will attract big brands.
He tells us: “She is full of fun and totally grounded, with a huge personality and glamorous looks. I can see her getting lots of deals from brands looking for a wholesome, aspirational star.”
Nick predicts fashion, jewellery, make-up and lifestyle brands “all wanting a bit of her golden touch” will try to utilise her social media following.
He also predicts a bidding war from major publishers over any forthcoming memoir.
Nick adds: “Sportswear brands will be vying for her attention as a brand ambassador too and with major players with huge pockets brands like Fabletics, Gym Shark and even M&S will be looking to get her as their next big brand ambassador.
“Her existing brand partners Nike and Omega will be looking to up their sponsorship deals to make sure she stays loyal to them, as she sees her life being turned upside down as she becomes a big star.
“All eyes will be on her to win the coveted Sports Personality of the Year award and she’ll also potentially receive an honour from the King for her services to sport so this is definitely her time.”