An Olympic gold medal is not the only shiny thing Keely Hodgkinson has her eye on his summer. ‘I saw a really nice car on Pinterest,’ the 22-year-old tells Mail Sport.
‘My brother was like, “Do you know how expensive they are?”, and I said, “If I win the Olympics, I will get myself that car”. I think it’s a Porsche Cayman. As long as it’s sporty and it’s beige and it’s looks nice, that’s all that matters to me!’
Should she win the 800 metres in Paris, Hodgkinson will have at least £38,000 to put towards her dream car – which retails from £55,000 – thanks to the prize money being offered by World Athletics to gold medallists. The British star, though, knows that a first Olympic title would be worth a whole lot more than that. ‘I think it can definitely change your life,’ she admits.
Hodgkinson’s life has already changed since the last Games in Tokyo in 2021, when she won a surprise silver medal aged only 19, a result she replicated at the last two World Championships.
She has earned lucrative sponsorship deals with the likes of Nike and luxury watch brand Omega, featured in shoots in Vogue and Elle, and was one of four British athletes followed for Channel 4 documentary Path to Paris, which aired on Saturday.
Team GB’s Keely Hodgkinson is striving for gold at this summer’s upcoming Olympics in Paris
Hodgkinson is amongst the favourites to win the 800m athletics event in Paris
Should Hodgkinson clinch gold in Paris then she already has her sights set on a new luxury sports car
Hodgkinson has vowed to buy herself a Porsche Cayman (stock picture above) if she wins gold
However, were Hodgkinson to become the first British female track and field athlete to win an Olympic title since her hero Jessica Ennis-Hill at London 2012, she would truly become a household name.
‘It’s such a big opportunity because the Olympics are relatable for the general population,’ says the European champion. ‘When I was younger, Jess was a big inspiration for me. She was the golden girl of British athletics at the time.
‘Her doing that in front of a home crowd really elevated her. She is still so well-known now. So hopefully I can do that and whatever comes along with that, opportunity-wise or just inspiring people, will be really great.’
Brand Keely is already being worked on. The Wigan runner uses the emoji of a tornado as her Instagram bio and her dad Dean has now incorporated that into a personalised logo, which he has had printed on 150 T-shirts supplied by Nike.
‘It’s really nice for Nike to support my dad in doing something crazy like that,’ says Hodgkinson. ‘He has got proper designs for them so you will be able to spot my family from a mile away in Paris!
‘I liked the emoji maybe like seven years ago and I put it on my Instagram bio and I haven’t moved it since. I feel like it represents me a little bit. I think it’s catching on. I think it’s nice to have something like that, where people go, “Oh yeah, that’s Keely”.’
Hodgkinson previously won a surprise silver at the last Olympic Games in Tokyo and is determined to go one better this year
World champion Mary Moraa (left) is almost two seconds slower than Hodgkinson this year
Those T-shirts will be out in force in the Stade de France on August 5, when Hodgkinson goes for gold. She is the overwhelming favourite after destroying her own British record at the London Diamond League on Saturday, clocking 1min 54.61sec – exactly a second faster than the next best time set by her team-mate Jemma Reekie.
World champion Mary Moraa is almost two seconds slower than Hodgkinson this year, while Olympic champion Athing Mu has failed to qualify after falling at the US trials.
Such is Hodgkinson’s desire to beat the best, she says she is ‘gutted’ that Mu will not be on the start line at the Stade de France. One athlete who will be there, though, is Phoebe Gill, who at the age of 17 will become the youngest British track athlete at an Olympics for more than 40 years.
Hodgkinson has only met Gill once – at last month’s UK Championships in Manchester, when the teenager won the 800m to seal her place in Paris. ‘I just went over and congratulated her and, bless her, I think she was in a bit of shock,’ she recalls. ‘She was like, “Oh, you’re my idol, oh my God”.
‘You could tell she was young in that moment. But she’s really sweet. She did really well to make the team and I am sure she will be really excited to go to Paris and see what she can do.’
Hodkinson is already building a brand for herself off the track while starring on it
Hodgkinson admits Gill’s rise reminds her of her own in 2021, when she went on to break Kelly Holmes’ 800m British record to get on the Tokyo podium. Such was the comedown from that high, however, Hodgkinson experienced depression.
‘For me, it was a weird state of confusion,’ she explains. ‘I had this big experience, this big adrenaline rush, I achieved something that I wanted to achieve and I was feeling a bit low.
‘I was still training, I was still doing everything, I just didn’t have a passion to want to do it. I was more forcing myself to do it because it was now a job. It had to overcome that and find that joy again.’
Ever since then, Hodgkinson has spoken regularly to a psychologist. This year, as a form of mindfulness, she has also been learning to play the piano.
‘I was aiming to play a French song called Voila,’ she explains. ‘I started from scratch, trying to learn to play with both hands and trying to learn the notes. It was a nice distraction but that has been put on pause for now because I am a bit busy.’
Busy, Hodgkinson hopes, winning gold medals and buying beige supercars.
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