Jessica Ennis-Hill says she will “relish” the opportunity to attempt to become the first British woman to retain an Olympic title in athletics.
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At the 2011 World Championships in Daegu, Tatyana Chernova pipped Ennis Hill to gold, but a sample provided by the Russian athlete back in 2009 was then retested and the 2008 Olympic bronze medalist was eventually given a retrospective two-year ban from the sport.
British heptathlete Jessica Ennis-Hill has had bitter experience of losing out on a gold medal to cheating, but even the British heptathlete has admitted her surprise to just how widespread doping apparently was in Russian Federation after the publication of Richard McLaren’s report in July.
“I think just with what has happened over the last year and the whole Russian Federation situation, it has truly shocked so many people”, 30-year-old Ennis-Hill told CNN’s Amanda Davies. With the pair tipped to be fighting for gold alongside Canada’s Brianne Thiesson-Eaton, Ennis-Hill knew she had to make this opening discipline count in her favour.
“On my USB stick out in Rio, I’ve got a copy of the Jesse Owens film Race and I think that will motivate me”.
In the London Games, Johnson-Thompson, then a teenager, secured a top-15 finish and was among those admiring Ennis-Hill’s achievement as she celebrated being part of “Super Saturday” on a gold-laden day on home soil for British track and field. “It’s not feet up and kick back, it’s going to be a tough time no matter what”. The biggest question for Katarina Johnson-Thompson, her Great Britain team-mate, and Brianne Theisen- Eaton, the Canadian who is her main contender, is can they find the consistency to do it? “It’s easy to say but I know there’s a lot I need to do to make that happen”.
“Mentally, I’ve got to be 100 per cent focused”. Belgium’s Nafissatou Thiam made another personal best with 13.56, just a few hundredths of a second behind Netherlands’ Nadine Broerson in second place. “I’ve just got to hold everything together and know that I’ve done this before and that I can do it again”.
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Thompson-Johnson has been watching videos of Liverpool’s 2005 Champions League final success, when they came back from 3-0 down at half-time to win on penalties, as she tries to complete a comeback of her own. She was just 19, and was at one point sitting third after the first few events of the 10. “I feel in a much better place than a year ago”, she says. The experience was what it was about whereas this time I’m trying to hopefully get a medal.
