Athletics Weekly: We’ll always have Paris – looking back at an unforgettable Olympics
Host Euan Crumley is joined by Jenny Meadows, Keely Hodgkinson's coach as well as three of her training partners to find out more about the environment that helped to build a champion.
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00:00Yeah, yeah. And well, in terms of the medals table, Wendy, obviously, USA kind of pulled
00:15away from everybody completely dominant and setting themselves up rather well for LA in
00:212028.
00:22Yes, I mean, the American performances were, were astonishing, really. And it was almost
00:29it was almost a reflection of 1984. When we all felt like all we heard was the American
00:37National Anthem playing. There was a little bit of that. And there was some surprises
00:42from the Americans as well. You know, they snuck a couple of medals in some of the distance
00:48events and Grant Fisher and Hocker, of course, as well in the 1500s, you know, that they
00:55were to perhaps surprise performances, breaking up a little bit of the African dominance.
01:02But I think as Brits, we have to be very proud of 10 medals. The best performance since 1984.
01:10And a medal in every relay event, which was exciting because everyone loves the relays.
01:15I think they love the tension. They love the jeopardy. You boys, you know, it's slightly
01:20on edge as to whether that button is going to get all the way around. But our relay teams
01:25did really well, which was extremely exciting. So yeah, I think I think it was a great games
01:33to make you excited for the next one. And I think we had that excitement in 2012. Unfortunately,
01:40Rio perhaps didn't live up to standards. But you're absolutely right with performances
01:45like that from the Americans. You can bet your life they're going to put everything
01:50into L.A. 28. And I think for us as track and field fans, it's really going to be a
01:56games to look forward to.
01:58Yeah. And Jason, it was a reminder as well of just how global athletics is as a sport.
02:04We had winners from first time winners from, you know, some of the smaller nations like
02:11La Fonde for Dominica and Julian Alfred with St. Lucia. I think it was 27 different nations
02:18all in all had gold medals, which is remarkable.
02:22Yeah, it just shows the huge global nature of athletics. You know, it's not not the same
02:29as sports like, say, rugby or netball, where you just have a real kind of handful of nations
02:35competing in it. I mean, track and field athletics is truly global. I think my favorite
02:40statistic of the whole games as well was when Thea La Fonde pointed out that the population
02:45of her country, Dominica, was about the same as the number of people in the stadium when
02:49she won her gold medal. 70,000 people, which just kind of puts it in perspective. I thought
02:57that was a really nice, nice statistic. And as you say, Ewan, there were athletes from
03:01lots of lots of new and pretty small nations who were winning Olympic medals for the first
03:06time.
03:07Now it's time to hear from our special guests on this episode. This is an extract of a conversation
03:12I recently had with Jenny Meadows, along with three members of the Manchester-based M11
03:17Track Club. She heads up with her husband, Trevor Painter. The best known member of this
03:21growing group is Keeley Hodgkinson, who struck gold in Paris after a series of silver medals
03:26in major championships. The full feature interview appears in the September issue of AW Magazine,
03:32which you can order now via AthleticsWeekly.com.
03:35I'm just really keen to find out more about the people who Keeley's training with, but
03:40also just, you know, the group and the dynamic itself and this idea that, you know, obviously
03:46we see this big picture of success out there, but not many people see what's going on to
03:53get there in the first place. So I'd be really keen to get the perspective from all of you
04:00of what it's like to be involved in that.
04:03It definitely has changed my perspective a bit on it because before, like I was just
04:09kind of, because you just watch the Olympics from such a young age and just like when it's
04:14someone you like actually know is just, I guess that does make it seem a bit more realistic
04:19for like, like someone where you've came from. It's like managed to do that.
04:24And Charlie, Trevor's mentioned before about the sort of the healthy rivalry, sort of the
04:28boys and Keeley have in certain sessions and stuff. How much sort of fun do you guys have
04:32together?
04:33We just know, we know she's going to come at the end. It's just scripted. Sometimes
04:38we forget like that she's actually quite famous. Like you just have in a chat, like what you've
04:43got to be on for tea or something like that. And then say we go to a different, if we go
04:47to a different track or there's a few kids there, they're all asking, can we have a picture?
04:52Oh yeah, I forgot you, I forgot you were famous. You just forget how big she is.
04:58Thank you to Jenny and the athletes for giving up their time. Now, Wendy, you'll know better
05:01than most of us how difficult that is to do and why it's so important just to keep
05:07turning up and putting the work in, even when it's not easy.
05:12Yeah, I mean, I was injured in 1984 and actually quite ill as well. So I think the main thing
05:21really is to sort of to coin a rather corny phrase, keep your eye on the prize. You know,
05:28you may miss little goals that you've set yourself, but this sport is rarely one that
05:34goes according to plan. And part of the challenges, I guess, of being a successful
05:41athlete is dealing with the downs. You know, everyone can enjoy the successes,
05:46but when you're having a tough time and you're watching your competitors out there
05:51carrying on as normal, it's very, very hard. So you have to focus on yourself and you have
05:56to focus on that day and then the day after and gradually just working your way back and racing
06:01when you know it's right to race. And Keeley had to pull out the indoor season, which must
06:06have been very hard for her because she's always been very successful indoors. But
06:12I guess she kept her eye on the prize and came away with the top one. So I think it's a great
06:19example of not getting too disenchanted, not giving up, doing the horrible cross training,
06:28whether it be running in the pool or using cross trainers or going into the gym and doing the rehab.
06:34All those things are really important steps to getting back.
06:40Yeah, and Jason, this came up during the Olympics as well was, you know, with the sort of the
06:47environment that Trevor Painter and Jenny Meadows have created amongst that group. Keeley's one of
06:54the group and that comes across rather than her being in her own separate category and
06:59everybody else following along behind her kind of thing. She's very much one of a group dynamic
07:06and it's an impressive setup that they've put together.
07:10Yeah, very impressive. I mean, we've obviously got Keeley on the front cover of our next magazine and
07:16you've done a really nice feature inside the magazine on the whole Keeley Hodgkinson,
07:20you know, what made her in the build up to the Games and speaking to the training partners and
07:27everything like that. And it's really fascinating stuff. And as you say, Ewan, her group's not just
07:32about Keeley. There's a big group there. They have a huge group of athletes. And I think one
07:38important thing for me is that it looks like she's regularly humbled in sessions.
07:44You know, she turns up and kind of eats humble pie. I don't think it's any secret that when
07:50she does the longer reps, she gets beaten by Sarah Healy, Georgia Bell, I think even Erin Wallace,
07:58who's probably primarily known as an 800 metre runner as well. I think she beats her on the
08:02longer reps. And Keeley obviously doesn't mind, you know, she knows that it's going to do her good.
08:08And when it matters in races like the Olympic final, that's when it all comes out. So,
08:13so yeah, that whole group dynamic, it's really fascinating. And it seems like they've hit a
08:18perfect blend of both working hard and putting the miles in and the hard, gruelling training,
08:26but also having fun. You know, it seems like they've got a real feel good factor within the
08:31group. You know, everybody seems to enjoy it. And I've heard that one of Trevor Painter's final
08:37words to his athletes before they compete is basically go and have fun kid, he says,
08:43which is a really nice way to send athletes off into battle, I think.
08:48Yeah. And Wendy, it's important to have that side of it because
08:52athletics is, it's a hard sport. It hurts.
08:58Yeah. I mean, I recently had a get together with my old training group. So we're talking a training
09:03group from 40 years ago. And my coach at the time, Neville Taylor, wasn't able to make it out
09:11to Paris. And so we managed to get together 19 of us that were in some way, shape or form involved
09:21in my training and preparation for the Olympics all those years ago. And the fact that 19 people
09:30turned up in the middle of the day to a pub in Crawley to, I guess, celebrate that time.
09:38But I think the important thing really, it wasn't celebrating necessarily my medal. My medal was
09:45one of the things that came out of that training group. It was to relive old times, to talk about
09:50training sessions. And interestingly, one of the things that Neville brought up during that was the
09:56fact that we used to do this circuit at Virginia Waters. And it was, we'd all start at the same
10:02time. We'd all get the same recovery. Except of course, I was running with guys that had run 352,
10:10148, sub four minute milers. And so I was never at the front of the group. And I was used to moan
10:17that I used to get five seconds less recovery than everybody else because Neville would stop the
10:23watch when the first guy came through and then I'd come through four or five seconds later. So
10:30we were all laughing about that. And I'm sure in a few years time, Keeley's group, along with Trevor
10:36and Jenny, will look back at some of the sessions they did this winter in the build up to Paris and
10:43Keeley's outstanding performance there. And I'm sure there'll be some laughs about those sessions
10:47that were harder than others. And like me, I'm sure she probably complains a little bit about
10:53the lack of recovery when she's perhaps not at the front of the group. You know, 40 years ago,
10:57it was a training group. Now, I think there's a lot more that goes on behind the scenes with S&C
11:03coaches and physios, but they're all part of the athlete's journey. And they're all really
11:08important in that athlete's journey. I think it's wonderful that Jenny and Trevor have managed to
11:15create such a great setup. Well, thank you to Wendy and Jason for joining me. We'll be back
11:20next month for more from the Athletics Weekly podcast. Don't forget though, that the September
11:25issue of AWU is out now, available via AthleticsWeekly.com or selected retailers. You can
11:33also keep right up to date with the latest athletics news by heading to AthleticsWeekly.com
11:38and following our AWU social media channels. Finally, please like and subscribe to the AWU
11:44podcast on your usual podcast platform. See you next time.
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