SOMETIMES, Jessica Ennis-Hill reveals, it feels as though the dramatics of Super Saturday only unfolded last weekend. One of the trio of British protagonists – along with Mo Farah and Greg Rutherford – of the most electrifying episode of the 2012 Olympic Games in London, the now 30-year-old retains a crisp memory of every detail of the odyssey that saw her end up in possession of the heptathlon gold medal she had long coveted.
How exciting it felt, how nervous she was, how unique the occasion became. “But it doesn’t feel like that long ago,” she declares. “All those memories are still fresh in my mind. There was that feeling of coming out of the long jump or crossing the line in the 800m. Seeing my family. And that disbelief I’d come such a long journey in athletics, from nine or 10 years old, and ending up on top of the podium at a home Olympics. I couldn’t believe it. It was incredible.”
Four weeks today, history – she hopes – will repeat itself for all three. The schedule in Rio mirrors its predecessor. Super Saturday The Sequel is slated for release. Little else has remains unchanged for Ennis-Hill since her crowning achievement. The variables impacting on her quest for a repeat are very different now.
This time, her two-year-old son Reggie, along with husband Andy, will remain at her side during a training camp in mainland Europe that will follow her appearance at the Muller Anniversary Games in London next weekend. “For me, I need to be with my son as long as possible,” she affirms. “If he’s happy, I’m happy.”
Yet domestic duties do not disguise Ennis-Hill’s will to expand her legend. Last September, she wrote a fantastical chapter by regaining her world title in Beijing with improbable haste following her pregnancy. It was a mission that felt traumatic. In spite of her eventual success, she felt under-prepared.
Likewise, Rio will be much simpler than her previous Olympic outing, she affirms. “I felt more stress in 2012 than any year I’ve ever experienced. Last year was an unknown year. I didn’t plan to go to the Beijing world championships. It was a last-minute thing. I always had it in my mind that I wanted to come back and get back to my best.
“But I always thought that would be this year, not last year. So I do feel anxious but I feel slightly less stressed than in previous years going into a major championships.”
Self-confidence surely helps ease the burden. In her lone multi-event warm-up last month in Germany, Ennis-Hill produced her highest heptathlon score since London 2012. Her rivals, compatriot Katarina Johnson-Thompson included, will doubtless have paid heed. “The heptathlon is one of those events that it’s hard to say I’m the favourite or whatever,” she counters.
Undoubtedly, however, she will travel to Brazil assured. “Going to Ratingen and posting that score in those conditions – and coming away with a personal best in the long jump – at this stage was not something I really expected. I just wanted to get back to close to where I was in 2012, equal personal bests, that sort of thing. This year I’d just love to get to Rio in one piece and better what I did last year.”
These Olympics could be her farewell. Many within the sport feel a triumph, in particular, would allow her to contently depart. Perhaps one more season, a world title tilt in London. Perhaps not. “Whatever happens at the Olympics, I’ll have a holiday and take some time to really think about what I want to do.”
- Tickets for the Anniversary Games are now available at britishathletics.org.uk
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