Athlos arrived in London promising that its all-female spin on athletics would provide a radical departure from the status quo. Long before Keely Hodgkinson stepped on to the track dressed in a hooded black bodysuit – part ninja assassin, part Catwoman – it had emphatically made its point. Throughout the two-hour event, the bassline from the aptly named DJ Trauma carried enough force to make eardrums bleed.
The stadium PA’s dial appeared to be permanently stuck on Spinal Tap’s 11. And those who successfully scanned a barcode were then shown dancing and waving on a giant screen. But the youngish crowd largely lapped it up.
As Hodgkinson was introduced, the stadium MC told the cheering crowd: “Wait until she comes around the corner, she looks bad, bad, bad. In a custom Nike suit, Keely Hodgkinson!” Soon the roars had become even louder. Athletics sometimes resembles a vicarage tea party.
This was more like a rave. Mill Hill has surely never seen anything like it. Afterwards, the Paris Olympic 800m champion insisted that the suit and its aerodynamic design, which also contained openings for her sunglasses and ponytail, had given her an edge.
But she could have been running in a thick duffle coat and she would still have won the $65,000 first prize and Tiffany crown with ease. But she insisted that this was a new version, legal under World Athletics’ rules, and with better technology. Technically, with the air drag you’re slower with your hair out, but I was like: ‘That’s a non-negotiable.’” Traditional track and field fans probably would have hated most of the night, which featured just 42 athletes and seven events.
And the long gaps between events surely didn’t go down well on TV. But this was designed for a different audience. When Hodgkinson arrived on the red carpet in a baggy tracksuit, for instance, she was accompanied by the sound of dozens of screaming teenage girls.
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