‘I didn’t know journeys like this existed’

Watching the Olympics from the comfort of home, contemplating what might have been, Georgia Bell could not have foreseen the journey ahead.

It was only three years ago, around the time of the Tokyo Games, that Bell began to enjoy running again.

On the TV, athletes whom she had once competed against – and beaten – were living their dream on the sport’s greatest stage.

But that was a dream Bell had long since given up on.

“When I quit after college it was just so clear I hadn’t reached my full potential and it wasn’t a happy ending. There was something left but I thought it would always be that way,” Bell, 30, tells BBC Sport.

“I just didn’t know journeys like this existed.”

An English Schools 800m champion in 2008, Bell’s talent was clear and her future bright. Yet, physically and mentally, that early promise proved unsustainable.

Her spikes had gone unused for four years when Tokyo arrived, but there remained a sense of unfinished business.

Shown old photos by her mum of past races against British Olympians now on her screen, that notion of untapped potential began to gather momentum.

“I had got back into running and my mum was showing me photos of races against Katie Snowden and Alexandra Bell when we were younger,” Bell explains.

“I remember watching them at the Olympics and thinking ‘I’m pretty sure I was beating them, now they are there and I’m here doing nothing’.

“I was super happy for them, they obviously did so much to get there, but I also felt a bit nostalgic about what could have been.

“Never did I think that I would be going to the next Olympics – but it probably got me up off my arse and going for a run at least.”

It has all led to this.

Now a European silver medallist despite working full-time in cyber security, Bell will make her Olympic debut in Paris – her qualification sealed in style by beating two-time global medallist Laura Muir to the British 1500m title.

Her preparations for the Games continue this weekend in a stacked Paris Diamond League race featuring Muir, Snowden and Kenya’s Olympic champion Faith Kipyegon, live on BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website and app from 15:00 BST on Sunday.

None of this was conceivable in 2021. In truth, the Olympics only felt realistic six months ago when she went close to the qualifying time during the indoor season.

Repeated injuries and subsequent stagnation contributed toward Bell falling out of love with the sport after a move to the United States.

There, a focus on high mileage inflicted stress fracture upon stress fracture, each setback pushing Bell closer to quitting until eventually, in 2017, she did.

“I wasn’t enjoying it and, to be harsh on myself, I wasn’t very good at it anymore,” says Bell.

“Having time off from the sport was the best thing for me. I was mentally and physically burnt out.

“But over time I realised I actually love running. I looked forward to going for a run during lockdown and I started seeing improvements quite quickly.”

Despite five years away, it did not take Bell long to rediscover her latent talent.

Juggling solo training with work, with Parkrun providing a measure of her unexpected rapid progress, she decided to get in touch with former coach Trevor Painter.

Painter, alongside wife and former world 800m medallist Jenny Meadows, has guided British star Keely Hodgkinson to the brink of global success, and would often refer to Bell as ‘the one that got away’.

“When I rang him he said he knew there was potential but I don’t think either of us expected the improvement we have seen so quickly, or thought the Olympics would be a possibility, but here we are,” Bell says.

‘Here’ is a matter of days after Bell out-kicked Olympic silver medallist Muir to win her first British outdoor title and seal her place on Team GB, an achievement she describes as “a dream come true”.

Grateful to be on a summer sabbatical from her job to pursue her Olympic ambitions, Bell, who lives in London but travels fortnightly to Manchester to train with Painter’s group – including Hodgkinson – has capitalised on the opportunity.

Achieving her first major senior medal with European silver, despite an infected spike wound sustained in the heats which left her struggling to walk, has given Bell confidence that “I can get it done even when things are going wrong” as she prepares for the biggest moment of her somewhat unconventional career.

Her immediate target is an attempt at a first sub-four minute 1500m clocking at the Paris Diamond League, which would provide additional belief before her return to the French capital later this month.

What lies in store there, and beyond as she continues to uncover her potential, remains an exciting unknown – although Bell says a post-Games return to her job remains the plan, for now at least.

“As long as you get to the final, there’s always the chance for something special to happen,” Bell says on her Olympic ambitions.

“It won’t be easy to go through the rounds – everyone says the heats at the Olympics are the worst races of your life – but in the major finals I have been in so far, they have just felt like big opportunities.”

She adds, on her longer-term plans: “The plan is to go back [to work] but I’m having the best time of my life at the moment.

“Obviously I don’t know what is going to happen this summer. I am really enjoying it, and I think we will just have to stay tuned.”