Hodgkinson made her light-hearted jibe as West Ham could stop London hosting the World Athletics Championships
Keely Hodgkinson
Keely Hodgkinson(Image: PA)
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Team GB athlete Keely Hodgkinson has sparked an angry reaction from West Ham fans after jokingly mocking the club's lack of success amid fears they will scupper London's bid to host the World Athletics Championship
West Ham have had tenancy on London's Olympic Stadium since 2013 and have so far refused to confirm they will vacate the stadium early in the 2029/30 season to allow the Championships to be held there.
Responding to a story on X headlined, “London’s bid for the 2029 World Athletics Championships is in jeopardy”, Man United fan Hodgkinson wrote: “The GB team will bring back more medals to that stadium than West Ham have seen in their entire history.” The post was followed with hand-over-the-mouth, laughing and heart emojis.
It sparked a big reaction online, with several West Ham fans failing to see the funny side, but many athletics fans supporting her.
"Show some respect to West Ham which is a fine institution with the decent folk who support them. Cheap laugh and not a good look," one supporter wrote.
"Strictly speaking each player gets a medal for a trophy win. So over the entire history that's more medals than you can dream of," another pointed out.
West Ham have won nine major trophies, including three FA Cups and a Cup Winners Cup triumph, during their 130-year history.
The London Stadium was, of course, built for the 2012 Summer Olympics before becoming the home of West Ham after the club left their former ground, Upton Park, in 2016.
World Athletics want the Championships to be held in September at the climax of the athletics season. Other major cities, including Rome, Munich and Nairobi, are interested in hosting it.
West Ham says it has a “contractual right ensuring West Ham United games take priority during the football season”. The club, however, received a heavily taxpayer-funded stadium with a capacity of more than 62,500 in what many consider to have been an exceptionally good deal.
World Athletics president Lord Coe said: “I’ve sat on the board of one Premier League club, and I’m very close to another one [Manchester United], and I think they would have been pretty satisfied with that deal.”
In terms of potentially moving the Championships to before the football season started, Coe added: “I can’t speculate. That would be a [World Athletics] council judgment. We have a pretty clear, stated position that we want our world championships to finish as the conclusion of a season.
“Why did we do that? For a lot of our fans it was confusing. They didn’t quite know why somebody would come out of a world championships or an Olympic Games and then go: ‘OK, I know they won whatever it is, in the world championships, and then four days later they’re in the Diamond League final.’
“And particularly when you have a very cluttered sporting calendar across winter and summer sports, we just felt we needed to do everything just to make our sport a little more understandable.”
Final bids must be submitted by August, with a decision then made in September.
A West Ham statement earlier this month said: “West Ham United remain in a constructive dialogue with London Stadium regarding the potential dates for the proposed bid and await further information.
“Any decisions remain subject to the club’s overriding priority clause, a contractual right ensuring West Ham United games take priority during the football season.”