Ennis-Hill wants to stay in athletics, but only after rest

BySportsbeat

Published 18/10/2016 at 09:50 GMT

Fresh from retirement, Jessica Ennis-Hill has stated her intention to remain in athletics, but admits her immediate future will involve plenty of relaxation and time with her young family.

Eurosport

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London 2012 gold medallist and two-time world champion Ennis-Hill announced her retirement from heptathlon last week, after taking the time since Rio 2016 to consider her future.

She has now said she wants to find a new role for herself in athletics, but only after enjoying some down time with husband Andy and two-year-old son Reggie.

"Sit back and relax and reflect on what I've achieved," are her current plans, as well as planning to "spend as much time with my son as possible".

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"I could never walk away from athletics and sport because I love it so much and it's been a huge part of my life," she added.

"I want to do something that I'm passionate about and I'm passionate about getting people active, getting people running and living a healthy lifestyle.

"That's something that I hope to do in the future."

The 30-year-old also admitted the main reason for her retirement was a fear of getting injured.

Having missed the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games through a series of stress fractures in her right foot – forcing a change of take-off leg for the long jump – she recovered to win gold at the 2009 World Championships.

However, injuries have remained a part of Ennis-Hill’s career and in recent years she has struggled with Achilles problems, prompting the decision to call time on her career.

"My body can't cope with the volume of training that it used to," she said.

"It was that fear of 'do I push on that one more year and potentially get injured and come away disappointed?'

"Doing the heptathlon, you've got to be 100% motivated; you have to want to do the training or you're not going to get anywhere with it.

"The past couple of years, I've struggled with injuries and Achilles problems. I'd have sessions that would go really well but then I'd be injured for a few days later.

"Do I say 'I'm in a really nice position here, I've achieved what I wanted to achieve and more' and do I walk away feeling really happy and satisfied?

"That's what I wanted to do."

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