Rio Olympics 2016: Jessica Ennis-Hill to fly home to contemplate whether to compete in World Championships next year
JESSICA ENNIS-HILL will fly home today and make the toughest decision of her career.
Whether to retire after adding Olympic silver to her London 2012 crown and two world titles — or end her glittering reign at the World Championships next summer.
A decision made harder by the fact next year’s worlds are on home turf — back at London’s Olympic Stadium, the scene of her finest hour.
The 30-year-old — aptly forged in Sheffield — had to settle for silver in the heptathlon on Saturday night.
Despite the mother of all battles in Rio’s Olympic Stadium, she finished with 6,775 points — her best tally since London 2012 — just behind Belgium’s Nafissatou Thiam, who clinched gold with 6,810 points.
The sense talking to her yesterday as dawn had just broken over a new chapter of her career is that her 800 metres in Brazil WILL be the last time we see her on a track.
Finishing at the top of her game, injury-free and with another Olympic gong in her pocket to take home to son Reggie, now two.
Her coach, Toni Minichiello, though, has told her to remember the line from the film Rocky Balboa — Don’t leave anything in the basement — and to only retire if she has no unfinished business and no regrets.
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Ennis-Hill admitted: “It’s a huge decision and I want to make sure it’s the right one.
“I’m going to go home, have some time to relax with my family, see Reggie, go on holiday and just really think about everything.
“I kind of know in my mind what I am going to do but I’m not 100 per cent sure.
“The fact the World Championships are in London next year will make it harder to walk away. Definitely. It’s London, the stadium, it’s incredible.
“It will be special. If I do decide to stop, it will be sad to see that go on without me.
“Toni has mentioned Rocky. It’s so cheesy but I always said I want to have a great career and give as much as I can.
“So many athletes just don’t know when it’s the time to retire and I don’t want to be that athlete who fizzles out. I don’t want to spend a year or two chasing bits and being injured.
“People saying ‘Oh, she’s injured again’. I don’t want to be that. I want to end on a high.”
Ennis-Hill had been bidding to become the first British female athlete to win back-to-back Olympic titles.
Only two in history have had a baby and retained an Olympic title over a four-year cycle — Australian hurdler Shirley Strickland and Cameroonian triple-jumper Francoise Mbango Etone.
The odds had been stacked against her but with true Sheffield nerves of steel she gave it a go on Super Saturday in Rio.
Ennis-Hill said: “I got back to the Athletes’ Village about 3.30am.
“My soft-tissue therapist and a few of the other guys were waiting outside so we had a glass of champagne outside the village. It’s been a while since I had champagne and it was nice to sit there and know I’d done everything and could relax.
“It’s definitely satisfaction but always relief. Whatever the outcome, just to get through the two days and come out in one piece.
“I’m honestly not disappointed. I came here and obviously I would’ve loved to defend my title. That’s what I had in my mind.
“I was giving everything to try to come out on top because I’m competitive. That’s what I wanted to do.
“Saying that, I gave everything in each individual event. I gave what I had on those two days. It resulted in a silver medal so there’s not an element of disappointment. That’s what I was capable of at this stage in my career on those two days. I’m very proud of that. I’ve had a great career and every year I have improved.
“But I am at this age and it’s harder now. I actually feel pretty good after this heptathlon. After last year and I tore my calf and couldn’t walk for a few weeks. I generally feel pretty good. It’s a nice state to be in.”
Ennis-Hill, whose hubby Andy and son Reggie were back home watching on TV, added: “I don’t really know what the next chapter in my life is, I just want to make the decision and have time to do normal things.
“I still want to be active and keep fit and be involved in sport in some element but I don’t know what exactly that will involve. It’s just the unknown. But no, definitely not coaching — that takes a special person!”
That “special person” is Minichiello, who has worked with her since she was a teenager.
He said: “I have to be proud of her. She gave it a good old bash here.
“She’s not beating herself up. The whole premise was to come back from pregnancy in 2014 and win a medal at the Olympics.
“I don’t know what the future holds if I’m brutally honest. That’s a decision for her.
“She has to understand if she’s satisfied with what she’s done, whether she’s happy, what she wants from her own future.
“I’ve said to her in my super cheesy chat, ‘You seen Rocky Balboa? There’s this chat between Rocky and his son. It’s like have you still got stuff in the basement?’ It’s that because so few people get to decide when they get to retire."
Ennis-Hill said: “It’s been a challenge juggling being a mum but it’s made everything so much sweeter. It’s made me a more rounded person.
“I’ve had such great support from my family, my husband, helping me to balance the two. I have no doubt they would continue to help me for another year but it’s such a tough event and just talking to some of the other girls after the competition, they were just ‘This is so emotional, how long can we do it, it’s so tough’. Motivation is a huge part of it.
“I look back on my career in amazement really. I started at such a young age and I wanted to make an Olympics and Worlds and that kind of thing.
“But just going through all the rankings in English schools, all these different stepping stones to the Olympics have been incredible.
“I never thought I’d win this many medals and just to be at the top of my sport and this event for so many years has been unbelievable and I’ve absolutely no regrets.
“I just feel really happy that I’ve had such support from Toni, he’s been an incredible coach and not many coaches have done what he’s done. My team, physio and everyone around me . . . I’ve got really great friends.
“I just want to be remembered as one of the great athletes that came into the heptathlon and hope it inspires other young girls to do the heptathlon in particular because it is a hard event but it is one of the best.”
Ennis-Hill managed to Facetime little Reggie yesterday morning, adding: “Andy was asking him, ‘What has mummy been doing?’
“He replied ‘Running, high-jumping, shot-putting’. He has been doing everything. He has been watching all the Olympics.
“He has trying to jump off the sofa like diving. Doing everything. He loves it.”
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