‘It is Scary Sometimes’ - Keely Hodgkinson Explains Why She Tolerates So Much Pain in Athletics

Olympics 800m champion Keely Hodgkinson insists the good life that running has given her makes it a bit easier to deal with the pain that comes with being a pro athlete.

Hodgkinson has been explaining her brutal training regimen, which includes sessions that leaves her throwing up, but the success it brings her makes it impossible to give up.

Being an Olympics champion, silver and bronze medalist at the World Championships and now a World Indoor champion, Hodgkinson is living the dream and if tolerating pain will keep the medals coming, she is up for it.

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“I just like the process of seeing how much pain I can tolerate and seeing how good it can make me,” Hodgkinson said on the High Performance Podcast.

“I have obviously found over the years I am quite good on this 800m thing. I am quite in track and field and it has given me an incredible life, I have been to many places.”

Hodgkinson admits thinking of her life without running makes it scary and considering how comfortable she is thanks to the sport; she pushes herself even further.

“I love the life that I live, I wouldn’t change it and the only thing that can get me there is to keep myself in this pain. I have got to find a way to love it not be scared of it because if you are scared of it, you are not going to push yourself as hard and you will not be good. I just really embrace it but it is scary sometimes,” she added.

Hodgkinson has mastered the art of the 800m race and taken her standards even higher in 2026 where she has already lowered the British Indoor record and broken the world record when she ran 1:54.87 in Lievin, France last month.

The 24-year-old then won 800m gold at the World Indoor Championships in Torun, Poland, last weekend in a new championship record of 1:55.30.