Former Catholic school pupil heading to the Olympics

Source: CBCEW

Georgia Bell, a former pupil at St Mary's Primary School, Chiswick; Sacred Heart High School, Hammersmith; and Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School will be competing in the 1500m event for Team GB at this year's Olympic Games in Paris.

Her talent for running was noticed at a young age when her nursery teacher wrote in her first school report 'Georgia is very good at running!' She joined Ealing, Southall and Middlesex Athletics Club aged ten where she won local, London, Regional and National titles including English Schools and British Universities Championships.

Following this success she earned a Track Scholarship in the USA. While she enjoyed the experience, her running times did not improve and gave up running completely after graduation. It was only during COVID, when we were only allowed out to do exercise, that she began running once more; igniting her appetite to return to competition. In 2023 she qualified for Team GB MultiSports and won the World Championship Duathlon in her age group.

She began working with her former coaches Trevor Painter and Jenny Meadows (former 800m World Champion) with a focus on the 1500m indoor season. Following victory in the GB title and placing 4th in the World Championships, her eyes were set on the 2024 Olympic games in Paris.

She won the silver medal in the European Championships in Rome and her Olympic selection was confirmed when she won the GB national championships in Manchester in June. She has since run 3.56.54 for 1500m (2nd on the all-time GB rankings) and 1.56.28 for 800m (4th on the all-time GB rankings and 3rd fastest time in the World this year).

Her first event, the Women's 1500m first round, will be on Tuesday 6th August. Georgia's family, who are members of the parish of Our Lady of Grace and St Edward's in Chiswick, as well as her former schools, fellow runners, parishioners and priests will be cheering her on and kept in all of their prayers.