KEELY HODGKINSON TIPPED TO BECOME BEST ATHLETE OF ALL TIME – HERE IS WHO SHE IS UP AGAINST
Keely Hodgkinson could become the greatest athlete of all time, according to Lord Coe, ahead of her quest to become the first British middle distance runner to become both world and Olympic champion.
Coe, who is president of World Athletics, was a double Olympic champion, as was his great friend Daley Thompson. But he thinks that Hodgkinson, who is only 23 and won 800-metre gold in Paris last year, can outshine every British great who has gone before.
Hodgkinson is favourite to add the world title to her European and Olympic crowns – the World Championships beginning in Tokyo on Saturday – after racing only twice in the past 13 months following a series of hamstring injuries. She already has an Olympic silver from Tokyo, when she was only 19, as well as two World Championship silvers.
Asked if she could become the greatest British athlete, Coe said: “She absolutely could. I’ve no doubt about that. And, to be honest, she could end up at the top of the heap internationally if she goes on. Touch wood, she’s got many seasons ahead of her.”
Coe himself recovered from serious injury and illness to win the second of his two Olympic titles in 1984 and he is also convinced that Hodgkinson has the ambition and mental resilience to follow the greats in winning repeatedly over a long span of time.
“I’ve spoken to her enough times to know that, mentally, she’s mahogany hard,” Coe said. “She really is. She is absolutely committed to wanting to end her career in exactly the way you described it. She wants to end her career at the top of the heap and there’s no reason why she shouldn’t.”
Hodgkinson returned last month after more than a year out to run her second-fastest time – 1min 54.74sec – and easily the quickest in the world this year. Although Britain has a rich array of past Olympic and world champions over 800m and 1500m, notably Coe, Steve Ovett, Dame Kelly Holmes, Josh Kerr, Jake Wightman and Steve Cram, none has won both global titles.
“You have to marvel at how she has come back,” Coe said. “It’s unbelievable. We’ve been saying this for a long time, she is the real deal. And she’s got good coaches. I mean Jenny Meadows [and Trevor Painter], those guys know what they’re doing. It’s a really good example of British coaching at its best.”
Are you sure, M’Lord? Contenders for athletics’ greatest-of-all-time crown
Best of British
Daley Thompson
Unbeaten in major international championships from winning the decathlon at the Moscow Olympics in 1980 through to triumphing at the European Championships of 1986. He was also the world record-holder and remains one of Britain’s most charismatic ever sporting figures.
Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill
Synonymous with the London 2012 Olympics, where she withstood enormous expectation to emphatically deliver heptathlon gold. Followed that up with silver in 2016 and also a three-time world champion.
Sir Mo Farah
His feat of back-to-back Olympic 5,000m and 10,000m titles is unmatched in world distance running. He also won six world and five European titles during a golden period from 2010 until 2017 before adding a British record in the marathon.
Lord Coe
Set world records over 800m, 1,000m, 1500m and the mile, as well as becoming the only athlete in history to successfully defend the Olympic 1500m title. His 1981 world record over 800m would stand for 16 years and remains the British record.
Jonathan Edwards
Edges out fellow former Olympic champions Sally Gunnell and Dame Kelly Holmes from the list. Like Gunnell, Edwards simultaneously once held every major championship title but stands apart for the feat of still holding the world record in his event some 30 years after that gravity-defying triple jump of 18m 29cm.
Best in the world
Usain Bolt
The most famous runner of all; still the holder of the world 100m and 200m records. Unbeatable from 2008 until 2016 in winning eight golds spread across three Olympic Games alongside 11 world titles. And all done with a huge smile on his face.
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce
Her longevity and 13 global titles arguably put her ahead even of Florence Griffith Joyner as the greatest female sprinter of all time. She will be competing in her last major international championships in Tokyo.
Sergey Bubka
Set 35 world pole vault records and was the first man over both 6m and 6.10m in winning an unprecedented six consecutive world titles in a single event. Suffered something of a curse in the Olympics, however, and won his only gold medal in 1988.
Faith Kipyegon
The winner of a hat-trick of Olympic titles over 1500m, as well as world titles in the 5,000m as well as 1500m. The world record holder over the mile and 1500m, Kipyegon will be resounding favourite to add another gold medal in Tokyo.
Jackie Joyner-Kersee
The greatest heptathlete of all-time was also the best long jumper in the world in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Her world heptathlon record, set at the Seoul Olympics of 1988, still stands.
Recommended
Jenny Meadows: The woman behind Keely Hodgkinson's rise to Olympic champion
2025-09-10T13:31:02Z
