13 October 2016 a day Jessica Ennis-Hill has announced her retirement from athletics. Jessica born in Sheffield, United Kingdom is a face everyone will know, a true Icon of Team GB athletics and has literally been there, seen it done it. A true role model to the nation and in particular the youngster in this day and age proving….. That with hard work you can achieve anything. A lifetime of training with her super coach Toni Minichiello together they have had many success stories but with these stories has come days and months/years of hard, hard! training that the Joe Public just do not see.
The 30-year-old won Olympic gold in the heptathlon at London 2012 and silver at Rio 2016, and is a two-time world champion. Ennis-Hill released a statement on her Instagram account saying it was "one of the toughest decisions" she has faced but "retiring now is right".
She wrote on Instagram: "Amazing memories...from my first world title in Berlin 2009 to Rio 2016 I'm so fortunate to have had such an amazing career within the sport I love and this has been one of the toughest decisions I've had to make.
"But I know that retiring now is right. I've always said I want to leave my sport on a high and have no regrets and I can truly say that.
"I want to thank my family and incredible team who have spent so much of their time supporting me and enabling me to achieve my dreams. Also a huge thank you to all those people who have supported and followed my career over the years x."
Ennis-Hill won heptathlon gold in 2012, to emulate Denise Lewis' win at the Sydney Olympics, after she claimed victory on Super Saturday, which also saw Mo Farah win the 10,000 metres and Greg Rutherford take the long jump crown inside the Olympic Stadium.
She won by 306 points ahead of Germany's Lilli Schwarzkopf with a total of 6,955 but was unable to defend her title this summer when she finished runner-up to Belgium's Nafissatou Thiam by just 35 points.
Sheffield-born Ennis-Hill had taken time out between the Games to have son Reggie, missing the 2014 Commonwealth Games, and did hint about retirement immediately after winning silver in Brazil. "It's going to be a tough decision, I'm going to go away and think about it," she told the BBC at the time. "At this moment, I'm tired and emotional, it's a big decision." She returned after the birth of her son in July 2014 to win the World Athletics Championships in Beijing last year having already achieved the qualifying standard for Rio.
It was her second world heptathlon title after winning in Berlin in 2009 while she also claimed silver two years later.
Ennis-Hill's senior breakthrough came in 2006 when she won bronze at her only Commonwealth Games while she also won gold at the 2010 European Championships and the World Indoor Pentathlon title the same year.
The victories were part of her dominance of the sport between 2009 and 2012 ahead of glory at London 2012. She won the 100 metres hurdles before coming sixth in high jump and 10th in shot put. A personal best of 22.83 seconds saw her second in the 200 metres and Ennis-Hill was also second in the long jump before throwing 47.49 metres, a personal best, in the javelin to finish 10th and put her on the brink of the title. She completed victory with a season's best of two minutes and eight seconds in the 800metres to win the race and the Olympic crown.
Although a firm favourite to win Heptathlon gold in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games with the nation getting up in the middle of the night willing her to victory. she was actually beaten by the new kid on the block Nafissatou Thiam from Belgium . Who put a spanner in Jessica’s works. Another 2-4 years off this hard training or call it a day now?
Unfortunately for Athletics fans she chose to walk away now and she will be a personality who will be sadly missed. I have seen Jessica perform at the Anniversary Games and was very lucky to meet her own book signing event where she kindly signed her name in her to which “Father Christmas” gave to my daughter. You will have many memories of Jessica Performing and I do too but my biggest memory is seeing my daughter open Jessica’s book on Christmas Day 2012 and seeing her facial expression with Jessica’s signature inside it #Priceless
I’m glad Jessica has retired at this point in her life but equally gutted and I mean gutted she has had to retire, she will be missed on the athletics track by many in the stands. We’ve had many great years watching Jessica and I wish her and her growing family the very best of luck for the future. I will sign off and reminding our Majesty it could be time to call Jessica Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill ??