Ep 94: Keely Hodgkinson

I love a bit of healthy competition and today’s guest thrives off it too! So, on your marks, get set and go prepare yourself for the record breaking Team GB runner, Keely Hodgkinson. Keely’s big sporting break came when she won Silver in the 800 metres at the Tokyo Olympics at just 19 years old. Since then, she has gone on to obliterate the national 800 metre record multiple times, set a new world indoor 600m record and has taken home medals at the Commonwealth Games, and the European and World Championships. All in the space of two years - busy, much?!? Ahead of the World Championships this Summer, and the Paris Olympics next year, Keely joins us to talk about her journey to the top in athletics, and it hasn’t always been in the fast lane! In this episode, Keely tells me about the harder times that have made her the incredible athlete she is today, how she quit athletics as a teen, the times she ended up crying on the pavement during lockdown, and how she went from not being able to get out of bed, to winning a Commonwealth medal in the space of a week. Now *THAT* is the kind of mentality we all need to take notes from! So many of Keely’s wise words are so relevant to our everyday lives, from her thoughts on failure, to getting comfortable with being uncomfortable, so get ready to take her record breaking mindset into your life!  You’ll also hear Keely call for more research into how contraception affects women's bodies in sport and beyond (which is long overdue - RIGHT!!!), plus so much more. AND as always, if you love this chat please get in touch across socials on @joshsmithhosts because it’s always great chatting to you and come back next week for the next episode in our special women in sport series! Love, Josh xx P.S. I am BEYOND proud that this series is empowered by Nike, whose ambition - just like Reign - is to champion women and girls and ensure they feel seen and included in sport and beyond.  Nike is committed to celebrating ALL women, supporting HER journey by taking action to make meaningful change and coming through with innovative style-led products you will hear all about in this series.  I’m sure you will have already seen the game-changing new England women’s football kit - which we talk about in this episode - that includes the new Leak Protection technology embedded in the lining of the Nike Pro Short for athletes. And Nike have also just launched the Phantom Luna - a women-led football boot, backed by Nike’s most meaningful investment in women yet that has taken more than two years of research, trialling, designing and styling to develop.  We haven’t even got onto the bras, leggings, Pro Hijabs and their maternity and plus size ranges so make sure you check out all of the latest innovation for HER product at Nike.com and @nikewomen.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices