Georgia Bell, the new British 1500m record holder, has been told that even a world record is not impossible before deciding whether to extend her break from work after a Olympic bronze medal fairy tale.
The 30-year-old, who only returned to serious training in November 2022 after resuming running during lockdown, created one of the stories of the entire Olympics on Saturday night by first holding the world record pace in front of her and then sprinting to bronze.
For her Wigan coaches Trevor Painter and Jenny Meadows, it was one of three Olympic medals for their training group and, after Bell’s phenomenal progress in recent months, they are not even ruling out trying to match Faith Kipyegon’s world record of 3 minutes 49.04 seconds.
Bell has improved his 1500m personal best since re-teaming with Meadows and Painter from 4min 16.21sec in August 2022 to 3min 52.61sec now.
She had initially combined her full-time job in cyber security with running but took a sabbatical from May to the end of August after finishing fourth at the World Indoor Championships, even if it meant turning down work last month when 8.5 million computers were affected by a major global technology failure.
“She was furious,” Painter said. “She said, ‘I’m losing a lot of commission because I don’t have a job.’ She was getting phone calls and having to forward them to her coworkers.
“I think a big factor (in her improvement) is that she doesn’t have to get up and work. The day after the World Indoor Championships, she took an early flight back to London and was at her desk by 12 noon. What a surreal comedown.
“But since May she’s been able to not have to get up early, train when she needs to train, sleep when she needs to sleep and just focus on being an athlete and that’s made a huge difference.
“She is 30 years old, but Kelly Holmes was 34 when she won double gold. And she hasn’t competed much, she has spent many years without practicing this sport, so her body doesn’t hold up like some people her age.”
On the possibility of knocking another 3.6 seconds off the 1500m world record, Meadows, a former world and European medallist, said: “3:52.6. I know 3:49.0 is a bit more than that, but never say never to anyone.”
Painter had previously coached Bell when she was in her early twenties and laughs when she recalls her first impressions. “We were coaching a girl called Leah Barrow at Birmingham University and she was at the same university,” Painter says. “I was doing a few sessions with her and then she said, ‘Can I join?’ When she first came along, I thought she was like a society girl, like Tamara Beckwith. A glamorous girl. But when I saw her running, I thought, ‘oh, okay’. She rose very quickly through the development ranks but the next thing she said was that she was going to do a Masters in the States[in California].
“I was devastated when he left for the United States. You could see something special, but you shouldn’t stop people from staying behind. It’s their life and everyone does what they want.”
Painter would refer to Bell as “the one that got away” until she reconnected with her after she returned to doing some track races. “She and her boyfriend were doing a lot of cycling,” Painter says. “During COVID, he was like, ‘Shall we go for a run?’ and she was like, ‘Don’t you want to run with me?’ He was like, ‘What do you mean?’ She was like, ‘I used to be fine.’ (Bell had won national medals in her age category when she was younger.) They went for a run and she crushed it. Since then, she’s started doing some shows.”
Meadows initially thought it might be too late and her subsequent progression, which saw her shave 10 seconds off her personal best in 2023 before another 14 seconds this year, has been “beyond our wildest dreams”.
“It’s great for Georgia because this is a life’s work for Trev – he’s been coaching for 24 years,” said Meadows, whose elite group of 25 also includes the British 800m record holder Gold medalist Keely Hodgkinson and Lewis Davey, who helped the British team to bronze in the 4x400m relay.
“This year we created a team – the M11 Track Club,” Meadows added. “Georgia is a very hard worker and trains with other world-class girls. It’s a revelation. She thinks: ‘Well, my teammate can be an Olympic champion, I’m doing similar sessions’. We compare her a lot to Keely. She just responds to the encouragement we give her.
“I told him exactly the same thing I told Keely before he came into the call room: ‘You have all the skills. I’d rather have your skills than most other people’s skills in this race.’ Use them. It’s going to be very hard to beat you.”
