Jessica Ennis-Hill Announces Retirement from Athletics: Latest Details, Reaction

Former Olympic heptathlon champion Jessica Ennis-Hill has announced her retirement from athletics with immediate effect.

News of the Team GB star’s decision came on Thursday. Press Association Sport provided confirmation of her retirement.

She posted the following on her official Instagram account:

Ennis-Hill memorably won gold at the 2012 Olympics in London. At the recent Rio de Janeiro Games, the 30-year-old secured silver.

Additionally, Ennis-Hill hangs up her spikes having been crowned a two-time world champion and a one-time European champion. She is also a former British record holder in 100-metre hurdles and high jump.

Sponsor Adidas hailed the former Olympic champion with the following bulletin:

In addition to her remarkable successes, the Sheffield-born athlete is one of the most popular British sportswomen of all time, blending remarkable natural talent, steely determination and an infectious enthusiasm for athletics.

Former Olympic heptathlon medalist Kelly Sotherton was disappointed to hear of Ennis-Hill’s decision, although she praised her multi-dimensional qualities:

Katarina Johnson-Thompson, who represented Team GB alongside Ennis-Hill in the heptathlon in Rio, posted the following:

The manner in which Ennis-Hill romped to gold at the London Olympics represents one of the iconic moments in the history of British sport.

Here’s a reminder of the spine-tingling moment from the Olympic Stadium four years ago:

Prior to the event, the heptathlon star was considered to be the face of the Games by many, having finished in second place at the World Championships in 2011. The pressure on her was immense in the buildup to the London Olympics, but she delivered in spectacular style.

FRANCK FIFE/Getty Images

Ennis-Hill didn’t compete at the World Championships the following year due to injury and missed the 2014 Commonwealth Games after giving birth to her first child.

However, she won the World Championships in 2015 before the defence of her Olympic title in Rio, where she eventually came up short against Belgium’s Nafissatou Thiam and took silver.

BBC Sport’s Tom Fordyce praised Ennis-Hill’s sparkling career and heralded her as a shining light in a difficult spell for the sport of athletics:

The Sheffield competitor will forever be associated with British sport, having been one of the three home athletes to win gold on "Super Saturday" at the London Games, with Mo Farah and Greg Rutherford also taking gold. To bring her best under so much scrutiny and expectation is a testament to her talent and unwavering temperament.

However, Ennis-Hill’s longevity and consistency should be heralded, too. To achieve so much in such a demanding event over so many years requires not only inherent skill but an enormous amount of commitment and sacrifice.

She will rightly be revered as an impeccable role model for many years to come.