British Star Slams West Ham: «More Medals Than They've Ever Seen!»

Olympic and world champion Keely Hodgkinson has slammed Premier League club West Ham over a standoff threatening London's bid to host the 2029 World Athletics Championships. The athlete, a Manchester United fan, took to social media to take a jab at the London club.

Controversy has erupted following reports that West Ham may not temporarily vacate the London Stadium, their home ground. The club's refusal to clear the stadium for approximately three weeks at the start of the 2029-30 season is jeopardizing Britain's bid to host the World Athletics Championships.

In response to a news report about the bid being at risk, Hodgkinson posted on X: «Team GB will bring more medals to that stadium than West Ham have seen in their entire history.» The post was accompanied by laughing emojis.

West Ham secured the lease for the London Stadium in 2013, in a deal widely considered highly favorable to the club. The taxpayer-funded stadium was the main venue for the London 2012 Olympic Games.

In a statement, the East London club emphasized that they have a «contractual right guaranteeing priority for West Ham matches during the football season.» Negotiations, however, are ongoing, with the bid backed by the British government and the Mayor of London's office.

Keely Hodgkinson, who will be 27 in 2029, is at the peak of her career. The athlete recently added indoor 800m gold to her Olympic title, in a campaign that marked Great Britain's best-ever performance at a World Indoor Championships, with victories also for Georgia Hunter Bell, Molly Caudery, and Josh Kerr in Poland.

World Athletics, meanwhile, has other cities interested in hosting the event, such as Rome, Munich, and Nairobi, and prefers the championships to take place in September, serving as a grand finale to the athletics season.

World Athletics President, Lord Coe, commented on West Ham's advantageous stadium deal: «I've been on the board of a Premier League club [as a Chelsea Foundation trustee] and I'm very close to another [Manchester United], and I think they would have been pretty pleased with that deal.»

Regarding the possibility of shifting the World Championships to July or August to accommodate London's bid, Coe was cautious. «I can't speculate. That would be a board decision [of World Athletics]. We have a pretty clear position that we want our world championships to finish as the conclusion of a season,» he stated, explaining that the move aims to make the sport more understandable for fans in an already packed sports calendar.

Candidate cities have until early August to submit their final proposals, with the decision to be announced in September.