Ennis-Hill won silver early yesterday, losing her heptathlon title to Belgium’s Nafissatou Thiam. “It never felt like a sacrifice – I just had to make sure we were very organized and everyone managed to eat, even if it was at different times”.
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Thiam overcame Jessica Ennis-Hill in the women’s heptathlon to win gold in Rio, scoring 6,810 points to break the Belgian national record.
It looks like being the final act of a glorious career for one of the finest athletes Great Britain has produced.
Mr Cosgrove said: “Her medal is much deserved following years of hard-work to return to this level of racing”.
“She would have been better off doing a standing throw”, said exasperated 2000 Olympic champion Denise Lewis in commentary for the BBC. “I guess my life is going to change, I am still at university so maybe I have a decision to make”. “Obviously I would have loved to defend my title but I knew it was a tall ask”.
“It’s hard as you want to end at the very top”, she said. It’s like, have you still got stuff in the basement?’ If I do decide to stop, it will be sad to see that go on without me.
Solid results in the 100m hurdles and high jump propelled her 72 points ahead of her nearest rival.
Thiam admitted she had shocked herself by claiming victory, having been injured in the build-up to the Games.
“It’s obviously not what I came for”, she said.
Jessica Ennis-Hill has said she would walk away from the sport were it not for the lure of a potential career swansong in London next year. “She’s had two great days and she wasn’t going to give that up”.
“I have no doubt they would continue to help me for another year, but it’s such a tough event”.
The medals came after Team GB won gold in the men’s rowing eight, and the women took silver in their event.
It takes a lot of support to be the most athletic woman in the world.
Ennis-Hill suggested the unusual timings of the events on Friday may have affected her performances.
Fellow Briton Katarina Johnson-Thompson at least laid to rest the demons of last year’s world championships when she failed to record a distance.
That left Ennis-Hill with it all to do in the final event, the 800m, with at least a personal best required to retain the gold medal.
A remarkable head-to-head between Johnson-Thompson and Thiam saw them propel each other to a new Olympic Best in the heptathlon, with them both eventually bowing out at 1.98m after three failures at 2.01m.
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Her points tally of 6,775 was her highest since 2012, better than when she won world championships gold in Beijing last summer. She has taken time off, suffered injuries, got married and had a son.
