Olympics gold medallist Jessica Ennis-Hill has told how she geared up for her biggest challenge – to compete at her children’s school sports day,
Dame Jessica said that when the opportunity came up she thought “This is me, I’m going in spikes, I’m taking them parents out!” But she decided she’d be too embarrassed to go full tilt, a decision that came as a relief to her two children.
The 37-year-old heptathlon superstar from Sheffield retired in 2016. From her 10-year marriage to construction site manager Andy Hill she has a son Reggie, aged nine, and daughter Olivia, six.
Asked on the Parenting Hell podcast if she’d taken part in the mums’ race, Dame Jessica replied: “They normally have a parents’ race and I was like, ‘Yeah, this is me, I’m going in this!’ Before I got there I was like, ‘Yeah I’m going in GB kit’. But actually, do you know what, I’d be so embarrassed. And anyway the year that Reggie started, they cancelled the parents’ race.”
The London 2012 gold-medallist said her other efforts to make an appearance at school had been thwarted: “The kids won’t let me. I said to them I would actually really like to go into their school and do a little inspirational talk.
“They have loads of parents come in, like doctors and all these people. Reggie was just like ‘No, no, I don’t want you to come in!’ He’s so embarrassed.
“And I’m like, ‘I can bring my medals in…’ and he’s like ‘No!’”
Dame Jessica added: “What’s even worse is Reggie’s in Year 5 so he’s got Year 6 and then he’s going to senior school, and the senior school he could potentially go to is my old senior school.
“So there’s pictures of me everywhere and there’s the sports hall which is named after me. It’s awful. Honestly it gives me such stress and anxiety because it’s bullying material, isn’t it, whether it’s good or not, like kids are just brutal.
“You just want to blend in. So it’s tough. But we’ll see.”
Jessica adds: “They’re both pretty sporty. Reggie is into tennis. We went to Wimbledon this year and we met up with Judy Murray. She gave us a whole tour and we saw Djokovic warming up before he went out to play.
“The opportunities our kids have because of what you do is so special. He felt very inspired after that day.
“So if he doesn’t become Wimbledon champion, I’m going to be a little bit annoyed!”
