'I wanted to leave my sport on a high' - Jess Ennis-Hill announces retirement

The heptathlete won gold at London 2012 and a silver at the Rio Olympics over the summer and had hinted at retirement after those Games.

But the 30-year-old announced the decision on Thursday morning on Instagram. She wrote: "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."

Ennis-Hill, who became the 'Golden Girl' of British athletics following her 2012 triumph, has won pretty much every major event going since her first medal in 2006 - a bronze at the Commonwealth Games. Since then her only pauses have been through injury and for the 2014 season to give birth to her son Reggie.

Her list of medals is pretty impressive:

2006: Commonwealth Games (Melbourne): bronze

2009: World Championships (Berlin): gold

2010: European Championships (Barcelona): gold; World Indoor Championships (Delhi): gold

2011: World Championships (Daegu): silver

2012: Olympics (London) gold; World Indoor Championships (Istanbul): silver

2015: World Championships (Portland): gold

2016: Olympics (Rio): silver