‘It needs to stop’ – Team GB hero victim of sickening abuse after winning bronze at Paris 2024 Olympics

GEORGIA HUNTER BELL claims she has developed a “thick skin” towards persistent online abuse since becoming an Olympic medallist for Team GB.

The British middle-distance runner – who won 1500 metres Olympic bronze in Paris in 2024 – says she avoids avoid social media the day of a major race.

Georgia Hunter Bell is one of Team GB’s elite athletesCredit: RexHunter Bell, 31, is well aware of the “really dark side of social media” and admits she has been targetted by trolls since becoming famous for her athletics endeavours.

It comes after running legend Liz McColgan slammed the “bunch of clowns” who posted “abusive comments” about her athlete daughter Eilish – some messages called her “an anorexic girl on the treadmill” and “unhealthy”.

Hunter Bell is the big name involved for Britain at the four-day European Athletics Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn and she runs on Thursday night in round-one heats.

She said: “I’ve had to get a thick skin quite quickly – ever since last summer.

“The majority of people are really supportive but there’s a really dark side of social media where people write things about you, about your body, about how you look.

“I’ve seen things about myself, just for my mental health, I’d never kind of look at any of that.

“So it’s hard when they’re directed to you. Sometimes I’ll have people direct messaging me things but it’s something that does need to stop.

“I know Eilish has come back and spoken about it publicly. It’s a really tough one, because it drains a lot of your energy.

“You only have so much and when you’re trying to focus on winning races, it’s tough to respond to every comment.

“It’s definitely something that needs to stop but I try to see it as a compliment almost.

“That’s what my husband George tells me to do. See it as the ultimate compliment because, when you get to a certain level, people think they can say what they want, that you’re fair game.

“It’s not nice but it just proves that people have got something to be angry about.

“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.

“On race days, 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.

“So I just try and stay off it, particularly on race days.”

Hunter Bell was working in cyber security this time last year but ditched the day job and is full-time focused on running, training alongside Olympic 800 metres champion Keely Hodgkinson on South African altitude camps.

She won silver over the metric mile at the European outdoors in Rome last June but is aiming for her first medal indoors.

Laura Muir won the European indoors 1500 metres title in 2017, 2019 and 2023 but the Scotswoman, 31, is absent from this Holland trip due to a calf strain.

I’d work a full day of work and then train in the dark in the evenings

Georgia Hunter Bell

Hunter Bell – who has made the journey from the ParkRun to the Olympic track – said: “If I look at last year, I was waking up at 6am to train before work.

“I’d work a full day of work and then train in the dark in the evenings. Whereas now I’m sleeping till 8.30am or 9am and able to fully recover.

“Now I can go to physio appointments at random times in the day. Go and introduce strength-and-conditioning into my plan. I’ve seen a real difference in that.

“Hopefully all of those things that we’re implementing will bode well for the summer.

“Last year kind of exceeded our expectations. I knew that if I gave it a full go, if I stopped working full time, there’d be an improvement.

“But we weren’t expecting to run as fast as the times that we were. I know I need to prove myself all over again. And I don’t want to rest on last year.”

Keely Hodgkinson cheered her pal onCredit: Getty