Georgia Hunter Bell: Social media has a really dark side – I never read comments on race day

Telegraph

05-03-2025

Georgia Hunter Bell, the runner who went from Parkrun to the Olympic podium in less than a year, has revealed that she stays off social media on race day because of its 'dark side'.
Former world champion Liz McColgan also called out the online abuse of female athletes earlier this week after her daughter Eilish, the Commonwealth 10,000 metres champion, was subjected to 'demeaning and abusive' comments about her appearance.
Hunter Bell is aiming this week to win her first major title after a dream comeback in 2024 when, at the age of 30, she won respective silver and bronze medals in the women's European and Olympic 1500m finals.
Her story has inspired numerous people but, ahead of travelling to the Netherlands for this week's European Indoor Championship, she admitted that the accessibility of athletes comes with downsides.
'I have had to get quite a thick skin quite quickly,' Hunter Bell says. 'The majority of people are really supportive but there is a really dark side of social media where people write things about you, about your body, about how you look, about what they think of you.
'Sometimes I'll have people direct messaging me things. It is something that does need to stop. It drains a lot of your energy. I might do a post in the morning if I've got a race and then I won't go on social media all day. I just don't go on it, because you never know… you can see something and it can just really affect you and hit you in a strange spot.
'My husband George tells me to… try to see it as the ultimate compliment because, when you get to a certain level, people think that they can say what they want, that you're fair game. It's a tough one, definitely – and I think especially for women.'
Cram's key role
Hunter Bell's senior international debut was at the World Indoor Championships almost exactly a year ago, when she was combining her return to athletics with a full-time job in cyber security. She finished fourth, with the BBC commentator Steve Cram inadvertently helping make her decision to dedicate full-time to running.
'When I crossed the line, Steve said, 'Georgia Bell must know that if she goes full time, she'll be able to make the Olympics',' she says. 'That did really help my case, because I'd told everyone at work to watch in my out-of-office email. When I went to them a week later and said, 'Do you think I could take a break over the summer to try to make the Olympics', they were more understanding.'
A British record and bronze medal in the Olympic final would follow and Hunter Bell will go into this week's European Championships as the fastest in the field and favourite for gold.
She says that the added recovery from not balancing training and racing with work has been hugely beneficial, but accepts that her new professional status – and an enhanced Nike contract – does bring a new dimension. Hunter Bell is now part of the M11 Track Club, where she trains with Olympic 800m champion Keely Hodgkinson. 'Last year I was waking up at 6am to train before work, working a full day of work, and then going out to train in the dark in the evenings,' she says.
'I was working in a software sales job where, every month, if you don't hit your quota, you could be fired. So it's not like a very dossy job, where you can chill out. It was, 'There is a number you need to get on the board'.
'[Now] I wake up every day really excited versus being, 'How on earth am I going to do all of this, try to train and book time off on Friday to get myself to Dortmund and race'. It was just quite a lot to manage.
'It has been a crazy 12 months. It was quite fun being the underdog. I really enjoyed that role last year because I just knew I was in great shape. I'm saying publicly I'm going for European gold. That is different, so I'm adjusting to it. I guess every athlete once they have their breakthrough, it's almost the second year which is the more telling of your capability, physically but also mentally.'