The Brit’s 2024 season included a national 1500m record and Olympic bronze medal in Paris
Georgia Bell started off her year sending emails to meet directors, in the hope she’d be able to showcase her value in a fast field.
By the end of it – her 27th race of the season – she completed the 800m/1500m double at the Diamond League final in Brussels.
Over the course of the campaign Bell became UK indoor and outdoor 1500m champion, secured a European silver medal and then claimed Olympic bronze in a British record of 3:52.61.
Now an established runner in both the 800m and 1500m – Bell is also fourth on the UK all-time list over two laps – it wasn’t a surprise to see the Brit double up in her final event of the season in the Belgian capital.
The 30-year-old clocked 1:57.94 in the 800m to finish second behind world champion Mary Moraa and then ran 3:58.95 a day later in the 1500m.
Speaking to AW at Memorial Van Damme, Bell couldn’t quite believe the season she had.
Georgia Bell in 2008 (Mark Shearman)
“It’s just been absolutely crazy,” she said. I’m so proud of the season and there’s so much work to get to this point. It’s not even about the results but just getting into Diamond Leagues. I didn’t even have an agent or brand that was sponsoring me. What looks like an overnight success has been years in the making and that includes the political business of hustling to get into meets.
“With every step that I’ve taken the goalposts have changed. You always get told that your best years of being an athlete are in your young 20s. So I thought that getting back into it later in lie would mean that it’d be impossible to run faster, especially over the shorter distances like the 800m. Now I’m in it I don’t think that is true.”
Her tale is one of extraordinary perseverance, self-belief and trusting those who believe in the bigger picture.
A prodigious youngster, Bell was English Schools 800m champion in 2008 and the future looked bright.
However, injuries during her time at the University of California caused her to lose passion for the sport.
Inspired by the Tokyo Olympics, she decided to give running another chance and a 16:14 parkrun two years ago proved to Bell that she had unfinished business within the sport.
As a result, she phoned up her old coach Trevor Painter and the rest is history.
Georgia Bell (Getty)
Painter coaches the M11 Track Club alongside wife Jenny Meadows and the pair helped Keely Hodgkinson become Olympic 800m champion, Bell claim the 1500m bronze and Lewis Davey a men’s 4x400m bronze medal.
“I think my journey has shown that just because you have a bad patch it doesn’t mean you can’t be good again,” Bell told AW. “As I’ve now come back into running for the enjoyment, it means I want to race as much as I can and I love it. I want to say yes to every opportunity.
“I’ve got nothing to lose in the sport. Every race I go into I think there are no limits. I just really don’t know where I am and it can all be taken away with an injury or something like that.”
On the reason for phoning up Painter, she added: “I just wanted to get back to track racing and follow a plan. Like I was just going to runs on my own and finding fitness. That’s where the parkrun time came from. I wanted a coach that I could confide in and who would support me. I really found that in Trevor and Jenny’s training group.
“I think of them as my second parents and they’ll be coming to my wedding. I’m just an example of how they’re training is working but just look at Keely and then you’ve got the likes of Ava Lloyd and Sarah Healy, who are also in the group and achieving amazing things right now. If I couldn’t be in their team then I wouldn’t want to be in track and field.”
Georgia Bell (Getty)
After an incredible four months as a professional runner Bell, who worked 10-hour days in cybersecurity, has now shut down the laptop and turned to athletics on a full-time basis.
One athlete who inspires Bell a lot is Faith Kipyegon, who broke her own world 1500m record with 3:49.04 back in July and then a month later became a triple Olympic 1500m champion.
Both Kipyegon and Bell stood on the same podium in Paris and the Brit believes that runners can now maintain their place at the elite level of the sport for much longer.
“If you look at the 1500m for example, Faith is in her 30s and so were the top five at the British championships,” she said. “It shows you can still have these huge achievements.”
READ MORE: Ingebrigtsen wins 1500m in Brussels
On her medal and record in Paris, Bell added: “It took a while to process the Olympics and I’ve watched the race back a lot. I think it has finally sunk in now. On the one hand I can’t believe I’ve won a medal and it’s such a huge achievement but on the other hand I feel like I’ve been running my whole life. Running has been such a huge part of who I am since 10. Being at the Olympics felt right.”
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