Ennis-Hill is out to become the first British woman to retain an Olympic title in athletics, two years after the birth of her son Reggie. It was her third fastest time since winning in London.
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“She has got so much potential and physically she’s wonderful, but she’s got the throws that are weak and that needs addressing”. “That in itself is a motivation”. But Thiam, despite nursing an injured shoulder with only one throw in her, emerged to eclipse that with an extraordinary 53.13m to put Ennis-Hill back in the shadows.
“It’s hard as you want to end at the very top”, she said.
“I’m so proud of what I’ve achieved in the last few years”. “I’m definitely a more rounded person”. I don’t want just to fizzle out. It’s now a big decision because athletics has been a big part of my life for so many years now. “There’s a lot to think about”.
Theisen-Eaton, who had ended the first day of competition in sixth place, worked her way up to the medals with 6.48m in the long jump, 47.36m in the javelin and 2:09.50 in the 800m.
Johnson-Thompson was second in heat three of four, only nine-hundredths short of her personal best, while Thiam started with a 13.56s in heat two (1041 points).
“It’s going to be a tough decision, I’m going to go away and think about it”, she said.
At the velodrome, Britain’s Katie Archibald, Laura Trott, Elinor Barker and Joanna Rowsell-Shand smashed the women’s team pursuit world record for the second time in 48 hours to take gold, beating world champions US to defend their title. “I competed out of my skin but that’s just how it is”.
Neither were close to the 2.01 mark in truth, but their success in the competition saw the overall standings change, as Johnson-Thompson overtook fellow Brit, Ennis-Hill to sit at the top of the pack after the high jump, Thiam in second – pushing Ennis-Hill to 3rd place by a small margin of points.
Speaking at the Omega House villa overlooking an Ipanema beach packed with Sunday crowds, she said she hoped to see a little bit more of Rio, but was heading home soon to celebrate with family. But having struggled with injury problems in the lead-up, gold was beyond her grasp, though she made it into the medals with her best performance of the year so far. Her Belgian rival, in one of her weaker events, clocked 25.10 seconds (878 points). I just did everything I could over those seven events over two days and it wasn’t quite enough for the gold medal.
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If there had been a roof on the stadium it would have come off as flag waving Brits screamed “Go Jess, Go Jess” and could nearly hear the same all over Britain, as the country stayed up until after 3am to will her on.
