Described as Tadpole by her peers and racially abused as a junior, Ennis-Hill – who retired on Thursday – rose beyond her frame to conquer the heptathlon
Jess Ennis-Hill had her first hangover when she was 16. She had been out at a friend’s house, acting like any other teen. Someone spilt a drink, someone else tried to clean the stain with raw bleach. It was that kind of party.
When she woke the next day she pulled a pillow over her head to try to make the daylight go away. But she had to go and compete in a junior athletics meeting. She threw up once before she got into the car, and then again when she got out of it at the other end. Back then Ennis-Hill was nicknamed “The Reluctant Athlete”. This was the tipping point, the moment she decided to commit. “It was the day I decided that the sacrifice was worth it,” she wrote later. “I did not want to look back with regrets.”
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