Jessica Ennis-Hill retires: The life and times of Britain’s athletics golden girl who won the hearts of the nation

JESSICA ENNIS-HILL disappears into retirement having established her legacy as the golden girl of British athletics.

The Sheffield star emerged out of the daunting shadow of Denise Lewis to cement her place in the hearts of a nation as she climbed to the top of the sporting world.

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The country already knew she was something special on the back of winning gold at the 2009 world championships and a silver two years later.

But it was London 2012 that really elevated her to superstar status – the poster girl of the home Games who absorbed all the pressure and delivered when it really mattered.

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It was 9.02pm on Saturday 4 August when Ennis-Hill stitched her name in the fabric of sporting history.

As she came round the last bend of the 800m at the end of two gruelling days of competition, the 80,000 packed into the Olympic Stadium that Super Saturday rose as one in acclaim.

The roar was deafening as she dug deep to sprint home and clinch gold, the affable girl with a broad smile that camouflaged an iron will to climb to the pinnacle of the heptathlon.

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The public, sponsors, television shows – everyone wanted a bit of the daughter of a Jamaican painter and decorator and Yorkshire social worker.

But fame did nothing to change her, instead she continued to plot her own career path which saw her marry long term partner Andy Hill in 2013 and then start a family together the following year.

Yet the drive to achieve was still burning strong so, having taken the entire 2014 season off, Ennis-Hill returned in 2015 targeting nothing less than gold at the world championships.

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Few seriously gave her a chance of getting the body back in shape quickly enough to mount a serious challenge, especially having to combine training with the demands of being a parent.

But come August in Beijing she proved all her doubters wrong, storming to gold and striking a blow for mothers everywhere in the process.

Aged 30, Ennis-Hill attempted to defend her Olympic title in Rio earlier this summer after a build-up blighted by injuries.

Yet once again, when it mattered the most, she dug deep and delivered - ultimately just missing out on gold because of an astonishing competition from Belgium's Nafissatou Thiam.

Still, silver was a remarkable performance and in keeping with everything Ennis-Hill was as an athlete.

She accepted the result with dignity, a smile and most importantly pride. An athlete who loved everything about representing her country at the highest level.

Ennis-Hill will claim she owes the sport and others a great deal. In truth, the country owes her even more.