SHE has been a sporting icon for a decade, but now Team GB poster girl Jessica Ennis-Hill is at a crossroads.
Does she go for gold again, next time on home soil, or focus on the love that brings even more joy than track and field triumph — her family?
Four years after bagging gold during London 2012’s Super Saturday, Jess had to settle for silver in the heptathlon at Rio early yesterday morning.
It was an incredible achievement. Yet she burst into tears when a BBC interviewer asked if this would be her last Olympics — the implication being her best might be behind her.
And her reply indicated that she WAS mulling over retirement, and might not feature in the IAAF World Championships in London next year.
Jess, 30 — proud mum to two-year-old son Reggie — said: “It’s a huge decision and I want to make sure it’s the right one.
“I’m going to go home, have some time to relax with my family, see Reggie, go on holiday and just really think about everything.”
Becoming a mum has changed her priorities.
Jess has said: “Athletics was my everything, but Reggie is better than any gold medal.
“He is my priority and everything has to fit around life with him.”
Jess, who married her childhood sweetheart Andy Hill, a construction site manager, three years ago, has been frank about the brutal strain on her body as she fought back to fitness after the pregnancy.
And having to leave Reggie at home while she is in Rio has also been a huge emotional wrench.
So when she admitted she was considering retirement yesterday, it came as little surprise to those close to her.
Coach Toni Minichiello even compared it to Sylvester Stallone’s boxer character Rocky Balboa, who fights on into his twilight years rather than quit when ahead, saying: “So few people get to decide when they retire.”
And her social worker mum Alison Powell, 50, said recently: “For Jess, athletics is a job now. Before it was her life. But now her life is her son.
“So for her it’s going to Rio, getting the job done and coming back as soon as she can. Things are more in perspective for her.”
If Jess does bow out of athletics, nobody could argue that she has given anything less than 100 per cent to the sport since she first caught the attention of youth coaches in Sheffield by mastering hurdling aged ten.
Her trophy cabinet glitters with World and European Championship golds.
It is hard enough for any mum juggling work and childcare, but as an Olympian her choice is almost unique.
Had Jess triumphed in the seven- discipline, two-day event at Rio, she would have been just the third ever Olympic athlete to give birth and retain a gold within the same Olympic cycle — and the first this decade.
Australian athlete Shirley Strickland won gold in the 8om hurdles in 1952 and again in 1956, despite giving birth to a son in 1953.
But the only sportswoman to achieve the feat in recent years is Cameroonian Francoise Mbango Etone, who took triple jump gold in Athens 2004 and again in Beijing 2008 after having son Niels in 2006.
Jess did win the World Championships heptathlon gold last August — less than a year after she returned to training following the birth of Reggie.
But she admitted that the struggle of getting back to peak fitness after a pregnancy which saw her put on two stone was almost unbearable and left her considering quitting sport.
She said: “I found it really hard and my body had changed so much.
“Your ligaments loosen and your body is stretched. Not having any sleep is the hardest thing.
“I was mentally fatigued. I was physically pushing my body, and doing those events after having a baby is a tough ask for your body.
“I was like, ‘This is so hard! I’m so tired!’ Obviously you don’t want to leave the baby, everything’s new and you have all these emotions. I definitely felt like I could stop.”
The seven Heptathlon events — including the 100m hurdles, javelin and 800m — mean it is considered among the most gruelling of all Olympic sports.
And sports scientists say the changes in the body caused by pregnancy make it even more difficult for an athlete to reach the top.
Dave Hembrough, sports scientist at Sheffield Hallam’s Centre for Sport and Exercise Science, said: “During pregnancy the body changes form and function.
“There are alterations in hormone levels as well as changes in the way tendons around the hips and pelvis operate. Those can make training much more difficult.
“And then there is the time taken away from sport in order to have the baby.
“On top of that, there are lifestyle changes for any new parent. An athlete’s body repairs during sleep, so clearly it is not ideal if that is being interrupted by a crying baby.”
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Jess, who has spoken about her struggle with sleep deprivation during Reggie’s first nine months, fitted 22 hours of training a week around caring for the tot in the run up to Rio.
Most days saw her giving him breakfast in the morning before heading to the track, with another training session after putting her lad to bed.
Only Saturdays were set aside as scheduled family time.
Jess said: “All my training now is totally catered and fits around my son.
“Making sure that he is taken care of, that family are there to look after him, or I am there.”
But while out in Brazil for the Games this summer she opted not to juggle events with childcare, making the decision to leave Reggie at home with husband Andy and her mum.
This was partly due to fears over the Zika virus and to avoid upsetting the toddler’s routine, but also to allow Jess to concentrate on her sport.
Mum Alison said last week: “If he was over there Jess would be worried about him all the time.”
But being separated from her young son will not have been easy.
Jess has previously spoken about her heartbreak at leaving Reggie behind in Britain while she competed at the World Championships in China last year, explaining how the family kept in touch using video calls.
She said: “Leaving him behind was the hardest thing I’ve done, having to be that far away from home. Even though he won’t remember it, it was hard for me. We FaceTimed every day.”
She called Reggie yesterday, to tell him about her silver medal.
Jess said: “Andy was saying to him, ‘What has Mummy been doing?’ He replied: ‘Running. High-jumping. Shot-putting.’ He has been doing everything. He has been watching all the Olympics.
“He’s been trying to jump off the sofa like diving. Doing everything. He loves it. He is so active and loves golf.”
If Jess decides to bring the curtain down on her glittering career, little Reggie may soon have a very well-qualified coach on hand to nurture that talent.
Which means Britain may have its first medal hope for the 2032 Games.
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