Sebastian Coe has tipped Keely Hodgkinson to become one of the greatest athletes of all time, praising her mental toughness as 'mahogany hard'. The double Olympic 1500m champion and former world record holder in the 800m made the comments on the eve of the world championships in Tokyo.
Hodgkinson, who won Olympic gold in Paris, has been backed by Coe to reach the top of the international heap. 'I've no doubt about that. Absolutely, for sure. And she could end up at the top of the heap internationally if she goes on,' Coe said. 'I've spoken to her enough times to know that mentally she's mahogany hard. She is absolutely committed to wanting to end her career top of the heap and there's no reason why she shouldn't.'
Coe also praised Hodgkinson's coaches, Trevor Painter and Jenny Meadows, for guiding her back from hamstring and back injuries. The 23-year-old ran 1min 54sec in August in Silesia, her first race in 376 days, followed by a 1:55 in Lausanne four days later. Coe noted the cleverness of running back-to-back races to test her endurance ahead of the world championships.
Turning to Australian sprint prodigy Gout Gout, Coe described the 17-year-old as 'the real deal'. Gout has run a wind-assisted 9.98sec for the 100m and 19.84 for 200m. Coe highlighted the importance of managing young talent carefully, praising Gout's level-headedness and his coach Di Sheppard. 'The biggest challenge is to take an athlete from his age through the next three or four years into the senior ranks, safely, mentally in decent shape and physically not badly damaged,' Coe said.
On the threat of a typhoon in Tokyo, Coe confirmed that World Athletics has full meteorological prediction teams in place to handle any disruptions.
