We follow the Olympic bronze medalist and British record holder on seizing opportunities, redefining expectations and reconnecting with running.
Georgia Bell lay on her back on the purple Stade de France track, staring out into the Parisian night. All around him was the floodlights of a packed stadium rocking just after the Olympic finals, but he needed to find some peace for a few minutes. Breathing was labored and exhaustion took over. It was exactly what he had hoped to feel.
“I couldn’t get up,” she recalls. “I really wanted it to be (the case that) I gave it absolutely everything and really pushed myself harder than I ever have. No matter what the outcome would be, I wouldn’t look and say. “Could I have tried a little more? Could I go a little deeper?’
“That day I gave absolutely everything I had, physically and mentally. I remember laying on the track listening to the craziness around me, but knowing you did it and how fast you ran…that memory will stay with me forever. I shared it with 80,000 people, but I was just taking a moment to adjust.”
There was a lot to adjust to. Bell had just become the British 1500m record holder and an Olympic bronze medallist. It’s been a glorious high to a truly extraordinary year, with so much more to pack into it.
Georgia Bell (Getty)
Looks like some confirmation was needed recently Instagram: The 30-year-old’s post laid bare the facts of her outdoor season. While the numbers don’t always tell the whole story, in this case they go a long, long way to confirming just how much progress he’s made since returning to the sport where he excelled as a youngster and reuniting with his old coach Trevor Painter : and his wife Jenny Meadows in early 2023.
The 800m and 1500m at the Diamond League finals last month represented Bell’s 26th and 27th races of 2024. In total, he competed 10 times indoors and 17 outdoors. That indoor season saw him become the national 1500m champion before narrowly missing out on a medal at the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow.
Moving outdoors, there were five main goals: break four minutes for 1500m, break two minutes for 800m, win a medal at the British Championships and European Championships and make the British Olympic team.
Bell can now look back on a summer in which she broke that four-minute mark five times, including a 3:52.61 she barely understood at the time that made her the fastest British woman ever over 1500m. There were also five sub-two clockings for the 800m at the London Diamond League, clocking 1:56.28.
Jessica Hull, Faith Kipyego and Georgia Bell (Getty)
The European Championship. He won the 1500m silver. Championship of Great Britain. Gold. That performance in Manchester was the run that eventually led to her climbing the Olympic podium. Another important stat is that he’s only been a full-time professional for four months, his layoff from his corporate job in cybersecurity has now turned into a full-on career change.
However, as he picks it all up, Bell insists none of it would have been possible without a bit of luck earlier in the year in the form of Sparkassen’s close encounter in Dortmund.
“Breaking a British record and getting an Olympic medal is obviously the big ticket moment,” he says. “But the race for me, which I think was the most important and which I’m most proud of, was the race in Dortmund in January.
“It was a closed bronze level meet where I got a spot to cancel, and I got that spot by emailing the meet director.
“I had no agent, no brand working with me at this point, and that set the tone for the whole season. The goal going in was to get 4:06 in an attempt to qualify at the World Indoors. I just went in so determined, on a mission to run that time, and finished in 4:03. I crushed what we expected, and it defined “we don’t really know where I am, so there’s no point in putting limits on what I can aim for.”
“I continued to take it to every race throughout the year and then a series of events started that got me signed, got an agent, which ultimately changed my life completely. It was a race where I just supported myself with Jen and Trev supporting me and I think that was the one that made all the difference.”
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