Keely Hodgkinson laughs off bizarre conspiracy theory that she was paid £200,000 to SKIP Commonwealth Games

KEELY HODGKINSON has laughed off a bizarre online conspiracy theory that alleged she was paid £200,000 to skip the Commonwealth Games. The Team GB’s heroine snubbed the 10-day Glasgow event to focus on the European Athletics Championships at Birmingham’s Alexander Stadium. Keely Hodgkinson has laughed off a bizarre online conspiracy theory Credit: Getty Images – Getty It was falsely alleged Hodgkinson was paid £200k by Georgia Hunter Bell to skip the Commonwealth Games Credit: Getty Images – Getty In her absence, Georgia Hunter Bell – a pal and running mate – won the women’s 800 metres at a canter in Scotland, having dropped down from the 1,500 metres. Hodgkinson, 24, and Hunter Bell, 32, were on a training camp together in Portugal when they noticed an untrue allegation from an anonymous account that claimed they had agreed a financial pact. Sign up for the Sport newsletter Thank you! The reigning Olympic 800 metres champion – who simply didn’t “want to do” the low-key, trimmed-down Commies – said: “It’s quite funny. “Me and Georgia were laughing the other day because we saw a TikTok, and it was like ‘Georgia Bell pays Keely 200k to not do the Commonwealth Games’. “I thought, ‘Well I didn’t get that money – so where the f***’s it gone?’ But I don’t know. People make up stuff. We just laugh about it. It’s a strange world we live in sometimes.” Hodgkinson earned worldwide fame in the summer of 2021 when she won an Olympic silver medal at the Covid-hit Tokyo Games at the age of 19. Since then she has achieved Olympic glory over two laps of an athletics track, three medals at world level and four European crowns, two outdoors and two indoors. As much as she is a role model to millions, she has learned to deal with the other side of fame – the intense scrutiny that comes with being a recognisable figure. Most read in Athletics SUN VEGAS WELCOME OFFER: GET UP TO £100 BONUS There have been times when she has deleted the Twitter app off her phone as the algorithm under owner Elon Musk has changed and not necessarily for the better. Hodgkinson, who runs on Tuesday in the Euro heats to women’s 800 metres, said: “Anyone I’ve ever bumped into has been very nice and supportive, which is always really great. “I’d say there’s more the issue online of opinions and perspectives and guesses and assumptions. You don’t really know what’s going on in someone’s life and sometimes it’s quite frustrating. “You just want to be like, ‘That’s not what’s happening’. But there’s nothing I can do about that. “So yeah I’d say you have to be a bit thick-skinned to be able to just put that to a side and completely ignore it. Just really focus on who you are, what you want to do. It’s definitely something I’ve learned this last year. “I think as the sport grows and the athletes grow you are subjected to more opinions and it can be frustrating at times. But I think you just got to let that go. Sometimes I delete Twitter. That app is awful. “You can’t really control what people are going to say or what people think. I think the older you get the more you just like let that stuff kind of go.” Comment now