Gold Medal Sprinter Adaejah Hodge Charms the BVI

By Claudia Colli

By Claudia Colli

Petite and personable, gold medal sprinter Adaejah Hodge is a BVI athletic star. With her wide smile, beaded braids, and trim athletic build, the Commonwealth Games 200-meter gold medalist has charmed all that have met her. I met Adaejah at Foxy’s Tamarind Bar on Jost Van Dyke this summer and could immediately see her star power. From first glance I saw a young woman of exceptional grace and self-confidence.

On a BVI wide tour celebrating her gold medal win, Adaejah was on Jost to meet the famous Foxy, who has done his own fair share of charming. He had left for the day, but no matter, she was having a great time, browsing t-shirts in the boutique and greeting people at the bar. She pranced around the restaurant displaying the exuberance of an athlete in her prime

Adaejah was born in the British Virgin Islands in 2006, and attended the Althea Scatliffe Primary School in Road Town. She subsequently relocated with her mother to Georgia in the US where she attended the Monteverde Academy. Her mother Tonya, a phys-ed teacher, set her off on her athletic calling from a young age. Running was Adaejah’s passion, and as it turns out, she was very good at it.

Adaejah Hodge relaxing at Foxy’s on Jost Van Dyke

An Impressive Record

A Redshirt sophomore at the University of Georgia, the 20-year-old has already racked up an impressive athletic resumé.

She is a 2026 Bowerman finalist, Track & Field News Collegiate Outdoor Female Athlete of the Year. She has been named 2026 SEC Indoor & Outdoor Women’s Freshman Runner of the Year, and the USTFCCCA (US Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association) Indoor & Outdoor South Region Women’s Track Athlete of the Year and the USTFCCCA National Women’s Track Athlete of the Year.

Adaejah established a new collegiate 200-meter dash record to become the No. 8 all-time world performer with a 21.68 to capture the NCAA title. The NCAA – the National Collegiate Athletic Association – is the premier organization that governs student athletics across more than 1,000 U.S. colleges and universities. It sets rules for student-athlete eligibility, academic standards, and sportsmanship while organizing over 90 national championships.

Adaejah has snagged a SEC 200m crown with a 21.92 – which marked her third below -22.00 race of the season. If that wasn’t impressive enough, she set the collegiate 100m record to become the world’s No. 5 all-time performer thanks to a 10.63 during the semifinal round of the 100m at the NCAA Championships.

Among her team events, she ran the second leg on the 4x100m relay at the NCAA Championships. The event achieved a school record of 41.89 and gave her track team, the Lady Bulldogs’, third place.

Commonwealth Games Gold Medalist

The list of her collegiate accomplishments goes on, but the highlight of her athletic career was undoubtedly her outstanding performance this summer at the Commonwealth Games, where she won gold in the 200 meters.

She likes her events to be short and sweet and the 200 meters is one of her favorites, she told me. Long distance running is not her thing, she added determinedly.

The Commonwealth Games, which were held in Glasgow, Scotland from July 27 to August 2^nd are comprised of member nations and territories of the “Commonwealth of Nations.” The majority of the members share a historical tie to the British Empire. Participating Commonwealth nations come from all corners of the globe including North America, the Caribbean, Europe and Africa, and range from large independent countries such as England, Canada and Australia to some of Britain’s smallest territories, including the British Virgin Islands.

Along the way, there have been some bumps in the road, but Adaejah’s sights have remained on overcoming setbacks and always performing at her best. She looks forward to her next challenge and winning each competition that lies ahead. In the meantime, she enjoyed a well-deserved summer break in the BVI.

For more about Adaejah’s college record to to:

https://georgiadogs.com/sports/track-and-field/roster/adaejah-hodge/10852

For another BVI Olympian read about Kyron McMaster at: