Jessica Ennis-Hill, one of Great Britain’s greatest athletes of the last two decades, has announced her retirement from athletics. The heptathlete’s gold at London 2012 was one of the most iconic and memorable moments of the games; with the 30-year-old enduring an illustrious career.
Ennis-Hill won her first ever medal over a decade ago at the 2006 Commonwealth Games, where she earned bronze. Although she was out the following year due to an injury, she then went on to dominate the event for the next five years, sweeping up nothing but gold and silver medals. This includes her second world title in Beijing 2015 after becoming a mother just a year earlier. However, in this summer’s Rio Olympics she finished in second place.
She had previously stated that she wanted to leave the sport on a high, so although she will miss the chance to compete for the last time in front of a home crowd at the World Championships in London 2017, she has said that retiring now is the right option. We wish her luck in her future endeavours.