Keely Hodgkinson 1 West Ham 0: Golden girl’s ‘medals’ jibe at football club

Keely Hodgkinson has poked fun at West Ham United amid reports that the Premier League club are blocking Great Britain’s hopes of hosting the 2029 World Athletics Championships.

The Times reported last year that the government would back a London Stadium bid for the championships but last week the hosting was in jeopardy with West Ham seemingly unwilling to be forced out of their stadium in September during the football season.

That has allowed other potential host cities including Rome, Munich and Nairobi to advance their cause and drawn ire from Hodgkinson.

The 24-year-old, who won world indoor 800m gold last week to go with her Olympic gold from Paris 2024, mocked West Ham’s recent lack of silverware in a social media post. “The GB team will bring back more medals to that stadium than West Ham have seen in their entire history,” wrote Hodgkinson, one of four British gold medallists at those indoor championships, in a jibe at the London club who are fighting to avoid relegation from the Premier League this season.

West Ham, founded in 1895, have won five major trophies: three FA Cups, the Cup Winners’ Cup and, most recently, the Conference League in 2023. Hodgkinson alone already has six gold medals at senior level in Olympic, world and European championships.

Hodgkinson has already given her backing to more athletics on home soil, last month telling the The Times that it would be her dream to compete if the 2036 Olympic Games were held in Manchester.

In the nearer future, the fate of the 2029 World Championships is still very much up in the air.

“It’s really difficult for me because I have a view, but I have to be scrupulously neutral, because London is clearly not the only bid out there,” Lord Coe, the World Athletics president, said.

“All I would say is that I would hope there is recognition that outside the Olympic Games and the World Cup, this is the third-largest sporting gathering. I do ask cities to try to accommodate us. There has to be a recognition that it’s a big global sport. This is not a gimme to anyone.”

Click here to read article