Last week, Olympic 800m champion Keely Hodgkinson was crowned the BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2024 after winning the public vote. The 22-year-old was the first sportsperson from the world of athletics to win the honour since Mo Farah in 2017. She also becomes the 19th athlete to win the SPOTY, more than double the number from any other sport.
In this article, we’ll first look at who Hodgkinson beat to glory for her SPOTY accolade, then we’ll take a look back at what she achieved in 2024 and before and what she will be aiming for in 2025 and beyond. Finally, we’ll take a look back at the other athletes to have won the BBC honour in the past.
Who Else Made the SPOTY Shortlist?
Hodgkinson topped the SPOTY poll ahead of five other great sportspeople from various disciplines: Real Madrid and England football sensation Jude Bellingham, young darts dynamo Luke Littler, cricket legend Joe Root, multiple Olympic para-cycling champion Sarah Storey and Olympic and world champion triathlete Alex Yee.
The shortlist for BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2024 has been confirmed!#SPOTY pic.twitter.com/GqUNmO6kKs
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) December 9, 2024
As it turned out, Luke Littler was voted as the runner-up to Hodgkinson after the youngster, who doesn’t turn 18 until January, was runner-up in the 2024 PDC World Darts Championship but won the Grand Slam, the Premier League and the World Series Finals. He also landed the Young Sports Personality of the Year earlier in the evening to cap off a truly memorable year. He’s bound to have plenty more highlights in the coming decade or more.
In third place was England’s highest Test match run scorer of all time, Joe Root. The first Englishman to score more than 20,000 international runs across all formats of cricket, Root has cemented his place in the sport’s history books… but that wasn’t enough for the voting public on this occasion.
How Hodgkinson Became the Olympic Champion
As mentioned, athletics fans tend to make their voices heard when it comes to the BBC SPOTY (as we’ll see later). Even before Hodgkinson won her accolade, her trainers Trevor Painter and Jenny Meadows picked up the Coach of the Year award. But what did Hodgkinson achieve in 2024? Clearly, the headline was her 800m triumph at the Paris Olympics when she became only the third British woman to win the event after Anne Packer in Tokyo in 1964 and Kelly Holmes in Athens in 2004.
She also won the 800m event at the European Championship in Rome, retaining the title she won in 2022 in Munich. Before that, she won the Diamond League contest in May, setting a world lead time in the process. And just before heading to Paris, she won another Diamond League event, this time in London, with another world lead time and also a British record, becoming the sixth fastest woman in history in the 800m.
Part of the reason the Hodgkinson victory captured the public’s imagination was that she had come so close to Olympic – and then World Championship – glory previously. She missed out on Olympic gold in Tokyo by just over half a second to Athing Mu from the USA. She then had to settle for silver in the World Championship 800m events in Eugene in 2022 with Mu again taking gold and Budapest in 2023 behind Mary Moraa of Kenya. Hodgkinson gained revenge in Paris and redemption is a sporting story everyone loves.
Mu didn’t qualify for the Olympics after tripping in the US trials, so Moraa was Keely’s main rival going into the event. Hodgkinson was the fastest finisher in the semis and there was a feeling that a fast race would suit the Brit. As it turned out, the opening lap was slower than Hodgkinson would have liked which left it wide open at the bell. But with 200m to go, the British youngster kicked and her strength and determination not to settle for silver saw her stride clear from the pack, with Eithopia’s Tsige Duguma taking silver and Moraa having to settle for bronze.
What Next for Hodgkinson?
Now that Hodgkinson has made it to the pinnacle of her event, can she stay there? There’s always a danger that the extra publicity and sponsorship events that come with being an Olympic champion athlete can distract from the main focus of winning on the track. But we get the impression Hodgkinson will remain determined to get faster and stronger in the coming years. She’s still only 22 years old, so with many middle distance runners not peaking until their late 20s, there should be plenty more success to come, assuming injuries don’t get in the way.
In 2025, Hodgkinson will no doubt be setting her sights on the World Championship in Tokyo, Given that she lost out on Olympic gold in the city, she might well feel she has unfinished business there. Before then, there are plenty of Diamond League events to conquer. The London meet takes place in July and after breaking the British record there in 2024, could she aim to do likewise this time around? Might she even aim at getting close to Jarmila Kratochvílová’s long-standing 800m world record mark of 1:53.28? That’s more than a second under her current mark, however, so it could take some doing. Many wonder how someone in 1983 could have achieved such a time… though we won’t stoke any rumours here.
Other SPOTY Winners from Athletics
Here’s the full list of BBC Sports Personality of the Year winners from the world of athletics, starting with the winner of the very first edition back in 1954.
| Edition | Year | Athlete | Event(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 1954 | Christopher Chataway (ENG) | 5,000m |
| 2nd | 1955 | Gordon Pirie (ENG) | 5,000m, 10,000m |
| 10th | 1963 | Dorothy Hyman (ENG) | 100m, 200m, 4x100m |
| 11th | 1964 | Mary Rand (ENG) | Long jump |
| 15th | 1968 | David Hemery (ENG) | 400m hurdles |
| 19th | 1972 | Mary Peters (NIR) | Pentathlon |
| 21st | 1974 | Brendan Foster (ENG) | 1,500m, 5,000m, 10,000m |
| 25th | 1978 | Steve Ovett (ENG) | 800m, 1,500m, 5,000m |
| 26th | 1979 | Sebastian Coe (ENG) | 800m, 1,500m |
| 29th | 1982 | Daley Thompson (ENG) | Decathlon |
| 30th | 1983 | Steve Cram (ENG) | 800m, 1,500m, 5,000m |
| 34th | 1987 | Fatima Whitbread (ENG) | Javelin |
| 38th | 1991 | Liz McColgan (SCO) | 3,000m, 10,000m, marathon |
| 40th | 1993 | Linford Christie (ENG) | 100m, 4x100m |
| 42nd | 1995 | Jonathan Edwards (ENG) | Triple jump |
| 49th | 2002 | Paula Radcliffe (ENG) | 10,000m, marathon |
| 51st | 2004 | Kelly Holmes (ENG) | 800m, 1,500m |
| 64th | 2017 | Mo Farah (ENG) | 5,000m, 10,000m |
| 71st | 2024 | Keely Hodgkinson (ENG) | 800m |