After securing a fancy piece of gold jewelry in the heptathlon Friday night and breaking her personal best in the hurdles with a time of 12.54 seconds, popular British heptathlete Jessica Ennis has decided not to compete in today’s 100m hurdles because, she’s “more than happy” with the medal she already has and would rather take a well-deserved rest. Maybe have a few glasses of wine, some pizza-flavored Goldfish, and settle in for a Masterpiece Theatre marathon.
Ennis now holds the British national record for heptathlon, and feels like she doesn’t have anything left to prove. Not during these games, anyway. Ennis is 26, so she’ll look to compete again in four years. For now, however, she’d very much like to bask in Friday’s victory and indulge herself a little bit after a punishing training regimen and austere diet:
I did think about it, especially when I ran my personal best. But for me, it’s just about the heptathlon. I’m more than happy coming away with this medal. I think my body needs a rest right now. I want to have a bit of a break now, switch off a bit and enjoy life, but I want to achieve a bit more. I’m definitely going to relax, eat lots of rubbish food, have a few glasses of wine and enjoy this moment for as long as possible.
Ennis had been unofficially adopted as the “face of the Games” in her home country, which, she explained, definitively increased the pressure on her to perform well and not crush everyone’s hopes. No big deal or anything. Now that she’s finished with this grueling exercise national heroism, she can loaf around for a little bit, confident in the knowledge that, unlike most people who are loafing around this Sunday afternoon, she more than earned the right to recline on whatever plush surface she chooses and relish a whole sleeve of whatever the British equivalent of Thin Mints is.
Jessica Ennis will skip 100m hurdles at London 2012 Olympics to enjoy a ‘few glasses of wine’ and a rest [Telegraph]