“I suppose she felt like I did in London four years ago, when everything just clicked”. “I want to go out on a high. I guess my life is going to change, I am still at university so maybe I have a decision to make”.
Advertisement
“I love hurdles and I always said I would love to give it a go but I kind of feel that the boat has sailed on that one”.
“I’m disappointed with my performance, I should have done better”, said the Liverpool athlete. I’ve had some unbelievable years so I’m very happy to let that happen’. “I want to end on a high”.
“There’s definitely some younger, new athletes coming through and performing well”. It’s like, ‘Have you still got stuff in the basement?’ She went out to 6.58m in the long jump and threw a monster 53.13m in the javelin before the 800m showdown.
A solid shot kept her well placed and a 200m of 23.49, second-best on the night, left her in the lead on 4,057 points.
Just 17 minutes later in the velodrome Great Britain’s Becky James won a silver medal in the women’s Keirin.
She arrived at Rio 2016 as the favourite to defend her title, not least because she took home gold at the 2015 World Championships, just 13 months on from giving birth to her son.
‘I gave what I had on those two days, ‘ she said.
In the pool Australia’s Cate Campbell has one last chance to claim an individual medal in the women’s 50m freestyle and Monica Puig is aiming to win Puerto Rico’s first Olympic gold in the women’s tennis singles.
The 2012 heptathlon gold medallist wasn’t quite ready to say that her 20-year career, which started when she was a schoolgirl with dreams of making the impossible journey from the South Yorkshire championships to the Olympic Games, was over.
But, the most gutting part of it all is we may have just witnessed Jessica Ennis-Hill’s final event.
“I might not do this again”, she said, wrapped in a British flag.
The Yorkshire athlete led after day one but was short of the distance she would have been hoping for in the long jump on the resumptipon on Saturday, as Thiam moved into the lead. And yet, as in Beijing at last summer’s world championships, she fails to contend for the medals.
But Ennis-Hill was determined to succeed.
But the Briton’s 800m best is nearly 10 seconds quicker, meaning she remains favourite for gold should she hold her nerve and form under this most intense pressure.
The Sheffield-born coach said it might be time for him to “be selfish”, should Ennis-Hill retire.
Johnson-Thompson finished in sixth, 287 points off the pace of the victor.
Johnson-Thompson had a strong showing on the first day of the seven-event competition, even breaking the British record in the high jump.
Jessica Ennis-Hill said: “I’m pretty emotional but these are happy tears”. She’s utterly fantastic and we have so much love for her.
Johnson-Thompson added: “I’m going backwards a bit, aren’t I?”
Advertisement
“But I’m really disappointed with my shot put and my 200m was a bit down”.
