Thompson: KJT can surpass Lewis and Ennis-Hill as Britain's greatest heptathlete

Thompson scooped a pair of Olympic gold medals in Moscow and Los Angeles to become a Team GB immortal, as he set the standard for multi-eventing that Johnson-Thompson, Ennis-Hill and Lewis have sought to emulate.

Lewis followed up her bronze in Atlanta with a thrilling triumph in Sydney while Ennis-Hill won gold at the storied London Games of 2012 before clinching silver in Rio.

Johnson-Thompson finished sixth in Brazil but after securing a World Championship triumph in Doha last year, Thompson - who conquered the world himself in Helsinki in 1983 - reckons the 27-year-old can become Team GB's most decorated ever heptathlete.

"She has the potential to be the best among them," he told BBC Sport.

"She has few more things to win. Kat is world champion, but being Olympic champion is different class.

"Winning that world gold is a huge boost. It should prove to her that she is in with a chance - things have not always gone her way, but she has found a way to get through all of that.

"Her belief in herself will have grown, she has got a brilliant chance. She has so much talent, she can beat anyone."

Johnson-Thompson missed out on the podium in Rio but set a new British record in the high jump as she soared over the bar at 1.98m.

And she followed that impressive feat with European Championship silver in Berlin two years later, also scooping World Indoor Championship gold in the pentathlon before that stunning triumph in Qatar last October.

British female heptathletes have thrived in recent years but Team GB have suffered a paucity of successful male decathletes after Thompson's success, with only Dean Macey achieving top ten finishes in the event since Thompson's fourth in Seoul 32 years ago.

Macey finished fourth in 2000 and 2004 and Thompson reckons a lack of patience from some of Britain's aspiring stars is what's led to that decathlon demise.

"The calibre of athlete that comes in to decathlon is not the same," he added.

"It takes a little longer to get good at decathlon, because it is 10 as opposed to seven events, so a lot of guys with a bit of talent don't want to be not very good at something for the five, six years it takes to learn the discus, the pole vault, the hurdles.

"The natural talent that our best girls have brought for the last 10-15 years, have been better than our best blokes."

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