Trivia

She was awarded the MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2011 Queen’s Birthday Honours List for her services to sports.

“Jessica Ennis” (born 28 January 1986 in Sheffield) is a British athlete specialising in multi-eventing disciplines and 100m hurdles. A member of the City of Sheffield Athletic Club, she is the current World and European heptathlon champion and world indoor pentathlon champion.

Background

One of three daughters born to Vinnie Ennis and Alison Powell, Jessica Ennis has two younger sisters called Carmel and Natasha. Her father, originally from Jamaica, is a self-employed painter and decorator; her mother, a social worker, was born in Derbyshire. Neither of her parents were particularly athletic, but her father did some sprinting at school whilst her mother favoured the high jump. They introduced her to athletics by taking her to a ‘Start:Track’ event at Sheffield’s Don Valley Stadium during the 1996 school summer holidays. In later years she joked that her parents took her to the event because ‘I think my mum and dad wanted me out of the house!’ She won her first athletics prize there – a pair of trainers. More importantly, it was there that she met the man who was to become her coach, Toni Minichiello. She took to the sport immediately and joined the City of Sheffield Athletic Club the following year, aged eleven. In November 2000, aged fourteen, she won the Sheffield Federation for School Sports “Whitham Award” for the best performance by a Sheffield athlete at the National Schools Championships, where she won the high jump competition.

Growing up in the Highfield area of Sheffield, Ennis attended King Ecgbert School in Dore, where she sat her GCSEs and stayed on in the sixth form to gain three A-Levels, before going on to study Psychology at the University of Sheffield, graduating in 2007 with a 2:2. In 2010 Jessica Ennis was chosen to receive a D.Litt Honorary degree from the University of Sheffield for her excellent contribution to sport.

Ennis lives in Sheffield with long-term boyfriend Andy Hill, a construction site manager, and their chocolate Labrador Myla.

“The Times” reported that she follows the fortunes of Sheffield United, which she confirmed in an interview in the “Guardian”, saying, ‘I’m a Sheffield United fan. Up the Blades! I never go and watch them but my family and my boyfriend are big supporters.’ However, she also told the “Radio Times”; ‘I’m not a big sports fan,’ preferring to watch “Big Brother” and “Sex And The City”. She also watches “Smallville”, “Heroes” and “24″ and would like to take Justin Timberlake out to dinner.

She writes a column for “The Times” newspaper.

Athletics career

Junior competitions and early senior career

Ennis competed at the 2003 World Youth Championships in Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada in July and the 2004 World Junior Championships in Grosseto, Italy, but it was her winning performance at the 2005 European Athletics Junior Championships in Kaunas, Lithuania that brought her to the fore. Her first senior championships was the 2005 Universiade, held in ?zmir, Turkey, where she won the bronze medal with a new personal best of 5,910 points.

One of Ennis’s first victories as a senior came in February 2004, when she was eighteen years old. She won the 60 metre hurdles at the Northern Senior Indoor Championships in a time of 8.60 seconds. Two weeks earlier she had won three Northern Junior Indoor Championship titles: the 60 metre sprint, the 60 metre hurdles and the high jump.

Below is a summary of Ennis’s early successes:

2000 – 1st AAA U15 Championships pentathlon and 75 metre hurdles

2001 – 2nd AAA U17 Indoor Championships 60 metre hurdles

2003 – 1st AAA U20 Indoor Championships pentathlon, 1st AAA U20 Championships 100 metre hurdles

2004 – 8th World Junior Championships heptathlon

2005 – 1st European Junior Championships heptathlon, 3rd World University Games heptathlon, 1st AAA Indoor Championships pentathlon, 3rd AAA Championships 100 metre hurdles
2006

During the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia she added more than 350 points to her personal best, scoring a total of 6,269 to win the heptathlon bronze medal. Her personal best in the heptathlon high jump of 1.91 metres would have been enough to take the individual event gold medal. Before the Games she confessed that she didn’t think she would do so well, saying, ‘I don’t think I will win a medal, to be honest, but I am just hoping to score over 6,000 points. I want to step over that 6,000 barrier. It is significant.’

In the 2006 European Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden, Ennis was in the bronze medal spot after the first day of competition, but performances in subsequent events were not sufficient to maintain that position. She dropped down to eighth place, just three points behind the leading British heptathlete Kelly Sotherton. Notably she produced impressive performances in several disciplines – achieving personal bests in the shot put and the 200 metres; with season’s bests in the long jump and javelin. Her overall total of 6,287 points was a new personal best.
2007

Ennis hoped to do well in the pentathlon at the 2007 European Indoor Championships, as they were to be held on home soil, in Birmingham. She scored 8.22 seconds, to drop into second behind Carolina Klüft, in the 60 metre hurdles. She then jumped 1.91 metres (the highest jump of the competition), to take the lead. A 13.28 metre effort in the shot put saw Ennis drop from first to fifth, with Kelly Sotherton taking the lead. A season’s best of 6.19 metres in the long jump, and a personal best of 2 minutes 17.03 seconds in the 800 metres allowed Ennis to finish sixth. Her final score of 4,716 was a personal best by more than 300 points.

In July Ennis missed the chance to compete against the world’s best heptathlete Carolina Klüft on her home track at Sheffield’s Don Valley Stadium in the Norwich Union Grand Prix meeting, as she was committed to taking part in the European Under-23 Championships in Debrecen, Hungary, which took place at the same time. ‘It is disappointing,’ she said. ‘It would have been great to compete in my own city. It would have been good to have tried to beat Carolina in Sheffield. It’s hard to visualise myself beating her at the moment, because she is quite a bit ahead of me. But it will be nice in the future!’ In Hungary Ennis competed only in the 100 metre hurdles, winning a bronze medal in time of 13.09 seconds, finishing behind winner Nevin Yanit of Turkey and silver medallist Christina Vukicevic of Norway.

In the 2007 season, Ennis was ranked fourth in the world for heptathlon, behind Carolina Klüft, Lyudmyla Blonska and compatriot Kelly Sotherton. She was also in the top 40 for high jump and 100 metre hurdles. She automatically qualified for the heptathlon at the World Championships in Osaka, Japan. During the Championships, she was the fastest out of all competitors in the three track events, setting a personal best of 12.97 seconds in the 100 metre hurdles. Overall, she finished fourth on a personal best total of 6,469 points, beaten by the three athletes in front of her in the world rankings. She was only 41 points behind Sotherton, and a better shot put would have put in her with a chance of a medal. At the end of the first day’s events, BBC Television athletics commentator Paul Dickenson remarked that Jessica’s performance was ‘the sign of a champion for the future’. At the conclusion of the competition, Sotherton told BBC Television trackside interviewer Phil Jones: ‘She’s the future, so everyone better watch out.’ Both were correct in their assessments. It is significant that Ennis’s two weakest events – the throws – showed remarkable improvement over the next three years. In Osaka she shot putted 11.93 metres and threw the javelin 38.07 metres, which was a personal best. Three years later she was consistently putting more than 14 metres and going over the 46-metre mark in the javelin.

At the British National Championships, and World Trials, Ennis won the 100 metre hurdles beating specialists, such as defending champion Sarah Claxton, as well as rival Kelly Sotherton. Later, Ennis won the high jump, again beating the specialists and Sotherton, who finished a close second.

Ennis also went on to finish second overall in the World Combined Events Challenge this season, behind the Osaka silver-medallist, Lyudmyla Blonska.

In September, Ennis won the inaugural European Athletics Rising Star Award.
2008

On 2 June 2008 UK Athletics announced that a scan had revealed Ennis was suffering from three stress fractures in her right foot and would not be able to compete in the forthcoming Olympic Games in Beijing. She felt pain whilst competing at the Hypo-Meeting in Götzis, Austria and withdrew from the heptathlon competition after the first day’s events.

She wrote in her column in “The Times”: ‘I was second after the first day, but the vague niggle I’d had beforehand was getting worse. It got really bad in the high jump, the second event of the day, and I think the damage started then. I had some treatment, felt fine and then set a personal best in the shot. In the 200 metres I think the adrenalin masked the pain, but in the home straight I felt I was going backwards. I struggled to push off and when I finished I couldn’t walk.’ The injury was diagnosed as stress fractures of the navicular and a metatarsal. Treatment involved sitting on a magnetic bed for an hour a day and in an “Exogen” machine twice a day for twenty minutes.

Two years later Ennis told BBC Television presenter Hazel Irvine that she feared for her career. She said, ‘I was told by the UK Athletics doctor that this was a career-threatening injury. At that point my heart absolutely sunk and I was worrying that it would be the end of my career at the age of 22.’
2009

Ennis returned to competitive athletics after a twelve-month lay-off due to injury. She accomplished a new personal best at the IAAF World Combined Events Challenge in Desenzano del Garda in May, winning the competition with a total of 6,587 points, which also included an 800 metres best and a combined events javelin best. Ennis was pleased with the strong comeback, which broke Liliana N?stase’s 16-year-old meet record in the heptathlon. Her foot injury meant that she had to change her take-off leg in the long jump from right to left, a switch that, as she explained in an interview with BBC Television’s Phil Jones just before the Berlin World Championships, she found ‘quite hard and quite frustrating’. She described it as being ‘alien at the start’ but that with practice it would ‘become natural,’ comparing it to changing her writing hand. She told Jones that after going through the injury she felt she was now ‘a much better athlete.’

Ennis’s next competition was at the McCain Loughborough International meeting later in May where she competed as a guest in the long jump, in which she came second with 6.07 metres, and the 100 metre hurdles, which she won in 12.93 seconds.

She won the high jump and 100 metre hurdles at the national championships in Birmingham in July, with 1.91 metres and 12.87 seconds respectively.

Ennis was the only British athlete to go into the 2009 World Championships as the number one in the world that year. She became World Champion in the heptathlon for the first time on 16 August, with a personal best points total of 6,731. After building up a big lead following the first two events – the 100 metre hurdles and the high jump – her position was under threat after two mediocre throws, both around 13 metres, in the shot put, but she pulled out a personal best of 14.14 metres in the final round to maintain her advantage. She explained to BBC trackside interviewer Phil Jones how she felt during the shot put: ‘I scared myself so much. I was really panicking but I knew what I needed to do and just pulled it together and got it in the final round. I was “so” relieved! You could probably see I was a bit excited!’ Before the day’s final event, the 200 metres, BBC commentator Paul Dickenson asked her coach Toni Minichiello what the plan was for the race. ‘She’s going to tonk it!’ answered Minichiello. She won the race in 23.25 seconds and ended the day on 4,124 points, the third-best first-day heptathlon score ever, trailing only world record holder Jackie Joyner-Kersee and European record holder Carolina Klüft.

Ennis’s overnight lead of 307 points was reduced but never threatened as she produced solid performances in the long jump and javelin. She set off at a rapid pace in the 800 metres and although overtaken by Nataliya Dobrynska on the final bend she had enough in reserve to regain the lead and win in 2 minutes 12.22 seconds, to take the gold medal by 238 points. Jennifer Oeser of Germany took the silver medal with 6,493 points and Poland’s Kamila Chudzik won the bronze with 6,471 points. Ennis’s room-mate and fellow heptathlete Louise Hazel revealed that Ennis had been reading Fern Britton’s autobiography to take her mind off being Britain’s top medal hope.

Jessica’s parents weren’t in Berlin to see her triumph as they had bought non-refundable tickets to Beijing a year earlier and, as Ennis said, ‘it was difficult for them to come out here financially.’ After her victory UK Athletics head coach Charles Van Commenee said; ‘She is cool, calm and collected and that is her special quality. She is not affected by the opposition or the occasion and there is room for improvement,’ while Ennis remarked; ‘I was so worried. I didn’t know how I was going to come back from injury. I didn’t know what kind of shape I’d be in. This year has gone from strength to strength and now I’m the world champion! I’ve dreamt so many times about winning medals and becoming world champion, doing a lap of honour. It’s the best feeling in the world!’ Her lap of honour, which in the heptathlon is traditionally shared with all the other competitors, could not be completed as the athletes competing in the men’s 100 metres final were preparing for their race, in which Usain Bolt broke the world record with a time of 9.58 seconds. Rumours circulated soon afterwards that Bolt had asked Ennis out on a date, but she said the stories were untrue.

Ennis’s almost jovial comments in interviews during the championships, such as ‘Don’t mess up!’ and ‘I’m scared!’, along with her engaging personality and beaming smile, endeared her to the press and the public, the media immediately dubbing her ‘The Face of 2012′, in reference to the forthcoming London Olympic Games. Her website received so many hits during the championships that it kept crashing.

She made one further track appearance in 2009, at the Aviva Grand Prix in Gateshead at the end of August, coming fifth in the 100 metre hurdles in a relatively slow time of 13.28 seconds.

Sheffield City Council held a reception for Ennis in the city’s Peace Gardens, at which she was presented with a Mulberry designer handbag and a canteen of Sheffield cutlery. Council leader Paul Scriven said, ‘This is from the 530,000 people of Sheffield – this is our prize to you, our golden girl, our special champion.’

As late as November 2009 it was reported that Ennis had not yet claimed her $36,000 prize for winning in Berlin. She said, ‘I actually forgot about it, to be honest – you have to fill out a form while you’re out there, but I forgot. Yeah, I’ve got to chase that up.’

In December 2009, Ennis won the ‘Sportswoman of the Year’ award from the (British) “Sports Journalists’ Association”, as well as being voted ‘Sportswoman of the Year’ at the “Ultimate Woman of the Year Awards” organised by Cosmopolitan magazine. Ennis also came third in the 2009 BBC Sports Personality of the Year, behind second-placed Formula One world champion Jensen Button and winner Ryan Giggs of Manchester United FC.
2010

Ennis got her 2010 season off to a exceptional start with a 60 metres hurdles victory over American world indoor champion Lolo Jones in Glasgow. She set a new British record time of 7.95 seconds, two hundredths of a second ahead of Jones. At the same meeting Ennis set a new indoor personal best in the High Jump of 1.94 metres, and captained Great Britain to victory.

At the World Indoor Championships in Doha, Qatar, Ennis became the World Indoor Champion for the Pentathlon with a new British Record, Commonwealth Record and new Championship Record with a score of 4,937 points, finishing ahead of all three Beijing heptathlon medal winners, Nataliya Dobrynska, Hyleas Fountain and Tatyana Chernova. Dobrysnska was second in Doha with 4,851 points, Chernova third with 4,762 points and Fountain fourth with 4,753 points. Ennis’s victory meant that she became the first British woman to win world titles both indoors and outdoors. Her preparation for the event was hampered by another foot injury, thankfully much less serious than the one she suffered in 2008. Following her victory she said; ‘Winning the worlds and then competing here against everybody who was in Berlin, apart from Kelly Sotherton, was really special. It has really boosted my confidence knowing I came here having had another foot injury and still managed to beat people who won medals in Beijing. The injury was always at the back of my mind and I was always a little bit worried about it.’

In May Ennis competed in a 150 metre race on a specially constructed straight track along Deansgate in Manchester city centre. She beat World and Olympic 400 metre champion Christine Ohurougu into third place, winning in a time 16.99 seconds. Fellow British athletes Shaunna Thompson and Vicky Barr were second and fourth respectively. Ennis explained her nerves and her race strategy: ‘I was really worried and a little bit anxious because 150 metres was something I’ve not done. I knew I had to get out really quick because she Ohurougu is a brilliant finisher, so I knew I had to get out, hold my form, not overstride and keep pushing for the line.’

Later in May Ennis competed in three events at the Loughborough International meeting. She clocked 12.85 seconds in the 100 metre hurdles and cleared 1.93 metres in the high jump but failed in her attempt to set a new British record of 1.96 metres. She was below her best in the javelin, throwing 43.83 metres. ‘I feel really good,’ she said afterwards. ‘Everything is going to plan and I’m feeling a lot stronger and quicker.’

Ennis set her sights on breaking Denise Lewis’s British record at the 2010 Hypo-Meeting in Götzis, Austria, at the end of May but her attempt was defeated by persistent heavy rain. She won the competition and although her total of 6,689 points fell short of the record by a margin of 142, it was her second best ever performance after her victory in Berlin. She said her victory got rid of ‘all the demons from last time’, referring to the foot injury suffered at the same event two years earlier that forced her to miss the Beijing Olympics. She added; ‘I knew it would be difficult because the weather was horrible. I was a little disappointed, particularly with the long jump and the javelin, but all in all, with the weather being so bad, I was quite happy.’

The Adidas Grand Prix Diamond League meeting in New York in June saw Ennis in a one-off contest over three events against Hyleas Fountain. She won two of the three events, setting a personal best of 6.51 metres in the long jump, but lost by 15 points overall. She ran the 100 metres hurdles in 12.85 seconds, her second-fastest time ever, and recorded a below-par 13.61 metres in the shot put. Ennis said of her performance; ‘I was pleased with my long jump as it was a personal best. I’d have liked to have gone better in the hurdles but, all in all, it was a good competition for me.’

Ennis’s training was interrupted in June due to a virus that affected her balance, preventing her from doing any work at all for two weeks. It forced her to miss the combined UK Championships/European Trials in Birmingham. She said; ‘I was dizzy all the time. I had to stay in bed for two weeks because I couldn’t move. All I did was watch TV all day and try to get better.’ She returned to action at the Aviva Grand Prix in Gateshead in mid July, competing in the 200 metres and javelin. She ran a disappointing 23.55 seconds in the 200 metres, finishing in an unaccustomed last position running against specialists, but registered 46.15 metres in the javelin, close to her personal best. She remarked afterwards; ‘I feel like I’ve lost a bit of sharpness more than anything because of the virus but what I threw in the javelin gave me a little bit more confidence so I won’t walk away from the day too disappointed.’

At the 2010 European Championships Ennis won gold, setting a new European Championship Record and a new personal best score in the heptathlon of 6,823. As usual she led by a sizeable margin after the 100 metre hurdles and the high jump and, as in Berlin in 2009, produced a big throw of 14.06 metres in the final round of the shot put to retain a narrow lead – only 11 points – over Nataliya Dobrynska, who was temporarily in first place until Ennis’s third attempt. Her time in the 100 metre hurdles would have placed her sixth in the individual final in that event. Before the final event of the first day, the 200 metres, European heptathlon record holder Carolina Klüft, now retired from the event to concentrate on the long jump, said in an interview on BBC Television that she expected Ennis to pass her total of 7,032 points at some point in the future. She commented; ‘She’s got the potential and she’s mentally strong. For me it will be the optimal thing for her to beat it in London in the Olympic Games. I would be so happy for her.’ Ennis had already watched Dobrynska produce a personal best in the 200 metres in an earlier heat, so it was crucial that she ran well. She did – her 23.22 seconds was her fastest of the year, and left her overnight lead at 110 points. In conversation with the BBC’s Phil Jones, her assessment of Day One was that she was ‘really pleased’ and joked ‘My heart can’t take it! It’s too much, it’s way too much!’ when Jones asked about her final attempt in the shot put.

The first event of the second day, the long jump, concluded with Ennis leading by 68 points, as she improved her distance in each round. The javelin was a classic contest, as third-placed Jennifer Oeser, Ennis and Dobrynska all produced personal best performances. Ennis had led from the start of the competition but going into the final event, the 800 metres, she led Dobrynska by only 18 points. Dobrynska had to beat Ennis by 2.2 seconds to take the title. Ennis led from the gun but with 250 metres to go Dobrynska went past her. Ennis responded immediately and sprinted to victory in 2 minutes 10.18 seconds to win the gold medal, beating Dobrynska by 45 points, and finishing just eight points short of Denise Lewis’s British and Commonwealth Records. This time her parents were present to see her triumph. Germany’s Jennifer Oeser was third with 6,683 points. Ennis’s score was the highest in the world in 2010, overtaking the previous best of 6,735 made by Hyleas Fountain at the US Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Des Moines, Iowa, in June. The European Championship was virtually a world championship, as it missed only Fountain from the world’s best competitors.

Ennis was captain of the British team at the Championships, which meant she had to make a speech to her teammates prior to competition, a task she confessed she wasn’t really looking forward to doing. She later said; ‘I was really nervous about my speech, but when Linford Christie got up it made me even more nervous. I just said a few words and, thankfully, didn’t mess it up. I just talked about my experience at championships and tried to inspire people a little bit.’ Whatever she said worked, as the British team won a record nineteen medals. Commenting on her position of responsibility, Christie called Ennis ‘a little box of TNT’, adding, ‘I think as team captain she is the right person because she can lead from the front and seeing Jess doing well will spread encouragement through the team.’

After her victory Ennis recognised the challenge she had faced to overcome 2008 Olympic gold medallist Dobrynska, who bounced back from a disappointing 2009 to press her throughout: ‘It was really tough, completely different to last year and I’m happy to have handled the pressure and come out on top. At any point it could have completely changed. There was a lot of pressure because the girls were performing so well and I’ve been pushed all the way. I had to raise my game at every level.’ Dobrynska later declared that Ennis ‘has no weaknesses’ but Jessica disagreed: ‘Everyone has a weakness. I’m expecting to be challenged in the future and things don’t always go your way so I’m fully prepared for that.’ Meanwhile her coach Toni Minichiello sounded a note of caution looking forward to the 2011 World Championships in Daegu, South Korea: ‘You can’t ask for more than a personal best performance but the gap is closing on Jess. She won by 45 points but her rivals improved dramatically from Germany.’ Dobrynska sounded her own warning: ‘Yes, Jessica is a great athlete but I know my reserve. What if I had managed to do the shot put in Barcelona as I can do, at least 50cm further? These are the eighty points which in the end I lacked to win.’

Multiple Olympic champion and double world record holder Michael Johnson offered some advice to Ennis in the lead up to the Olympic Games in London in 2012. Johnson had been the home-town favourite at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996, so had first-hand knowledge of the pressures that situation would bring for Ennis. Speaking to Ennis on BBC Television he said, ‘You are the face of that Olympics and I’ve been in that position as well. I flew into Atlanta for the opening ceremony and flew back home, because athletics starts in the second week of the Games. I flew back home to be out of that environment, so that I could be in a focussed, controlled environment. That’s one area of danger, during the actual Games, you’ll be shocked. You will get a call from someone the day you’re about to compete saying, ‘Jess, can you get me tickets?’ You will get that call.’ At the conclusion of this discussion BBC presenter John Inverdale gave Ennis a Barcelona football shirt with ‘Ennis 7′ printed on the back as a memento of her victory.

Ennis’s specialist javelin coach is World Championships bronze medallist and European Championships silver medallist Mick Hill, who between 2004 and 2010 oversaw an improvement in her performance from 28 metres to 46 metres. Hill is now Director of Athletics at Leeds Met Carnegie University. Interviewed on BBC Television’s regional Look North programme, he said, ‘She is magnificent. She comes to train up at the Met and all the students, the athletes, who see her up there can’t believe, first of all, how small she is, but certainly how pleasant, how nice she is. But underneath that small exterior there’s quite an athlete. If her javelin gets over the 50 metre line it’s getting towards world class.’

Ennis had announced earlier in the year that should would not be competing in the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India, but soon after the European Championships she decided not to compete again during the remainder of 2010.

Ennis was voted European Athlete of the Month three times in 2010, winning the award in January, March and May. She was nominated for a Laureus World Sports Award for Comeback of the Year after she came back from injury to become world champion in 2009, the award eventually being won by Belgian tennis player Kim Clijsters. In October 2010 Ennis was nominated as one of ten candidates for the IAAF Female Athlete of the Year.She was promoted to the final shortlist of five but the award was won by Croatian high jumper Blanka Vlasic at a ceremony in Monte Carlo in November.Also in November Ennis was voted the ‘Ultimate Sports Star’ at the “Ultimate Woman of the Year Awards” organised by Cosmopolitan magazine in London, the second consecutive year she had won this award. A few days later Ennis was voted the ‘Outstanding Female Athlete’ at the “Commonwealth Sports Awards” in Birmingham, despite not competing in the Delhi Commonwealth Games. The awards nominations continued to flow: Ennis was shortlisted for the BBC “Sports Personality of the Year” title for the second year running, and also for the “Sunday Times” ‘Sportswoman of the Year’. She was unanimously voted (female) ‘British Athlete of the Year’ by the “British Athletics Writers’ Association” and was

named the “Sports Journalists’ Association’s” ‘Sportswoman of the Year’, both titles for the second consecutive year.

In August 2010 Ennis was put forward as a role model for young students – at a California high school. The incoming class of teenagers at the Silicon Valley city’s Presentation High School were asked by Pete Campbell, a columnist for the San Jose on-line publication “sanjoseinside.com”: ‘How many of you know who Jessica Ennis is? Jessica Ennis is an international track star. Earlier this summer, she won the gold medal in the Heptathlon at the European Championships. Last year, she also took gold at the World Championships. Jessica Ennis is arguably the world’s greatest female athlete. This young woman can fly…and throw…and jump…etc. She’s Wonder Woman.’
Personal bests

By clearing 1.95 metres in the high jump, Ennis achieved a foot (30 cm) above her own height of 1.65 which only ten women have ever managed, it also meant that she became the joint British women’s high jump record holder.

Her personal best of 12.81 seconds in the 100 metre hurdles puts her in joint second place – alongside Sarah Claxton – on the British all-time list, with only Angie Thorp having achieved a better time in the event of 12.80 seconds.

Ennis is currently second on the British all-time list for the Heptathlon, behind Olympic gold-medallist Denise Lewis. However, if Ennis managed to equal all of her personal bests in one heptathlon competition, she would achieve a total of 6,971 points. Lewis’ current record is 6,831 points.

“Outdoor Personal Bests”

“Indoor Personal Bests”

Jessica Ennis (official website) “JessicaEnnis.net

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He used to be a pretty hyperactive kid and was quoted as “a born fighter” by his father Shah Khan and he is the one that encouraged Amir to take up boxing as a career.

He became famous when he became the only representative for England in boxing in the Athens Olympics in 2004 and winning the silver medal in the lightweight category at a relatively younger age of around 17.

Khan signed for one of the leading boxing promoter in England, Frank Warren in 2005. He train at Wild Card gym in Los Angeles with Freddie Roach who also trains Manny Pacquiao.

On July 18, by defeating Andreas Kotelnik at the famous MEN Arena in Manchester he became the youngest person to win a world title in Britain at the then age of 22.

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Khan started to involve in No Messin’ campaign since July 2006, which promoted the child safety in British Railways.

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After the 2005 earthquake in Kashmir (Pakistan), he went to Kashmir to give food packets to the children in the camps. Khan also raised funds over £6,000 to help a fire fighter who was burnt badly after trying to help a family from an arson attack in Bolton.

He used his own money of around £1 million to open a boxing gym and Gloves Community Centre in Bolton in order to get the youngsters off the streets.

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Khan participated in a TV show called ‘Amir Khan’s Angry Young Men’ for Channel 4 which had three episodes of 50 minutes each. It was a programme which dealt with some troubled angry men to help them focus on family values, faith and make them disciplined.

Khan along with his parents appeared on Channel 4 – ‘Proud Parents’ programme.

• In April 2008, he was involved in the TV game show called Beat the Star.
• Khan was a guest in the ITV’s Family Fortunes against Jennie Bond in the celebrity version of the game show in January 2009.

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Bangalore and Chennai. Kochi Tuskers Kerala is not part of IPL 2012, as it was
terminated by the BCCI.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic is a Sweden international footballer who currently features for the Italian giants AC Milan. Ibrahimovic is rated as one of the best strikers in the world but is also said to be highly temperamental.

Ibrahimovic was born and raised in the immigrant suburb of Rosengard outside Malmo in the South of Sweden. He is the son of a Bosnian father and a Croatian mother. His parents met one another in Sweden. Ibrahimovic completed the ninth grade but did not advance to upper secondary school because he wanted to focus entirely on football.

Ibrahimovic signed with hometown club Malmo FF in 1995, and moved up to the senior side for the 1999 season of Allsvenskan, Sweden’s top-flight league. His impressive form for Malmo for two seasons persuaded Dutch giants AFC Ajex to sign the player in the summer of 2001 for a healthy €7.8 million. That’s the highest sum ever paid to a Swedish club for a player!

In his four subsequent seasons at the Amsterdam Arena, Zlatan Ibrahimovic stretched himself from being one of the most promising strikers in Europe to one of the best in the continent. He scored 35 goals in 73 appearances for the Dutch powerhouse and was a regular for most of his term at the club.

Despite his size he is a very technical forward and can do magic with the ball and also has a bit of pace. Zlatan Ibrahimović is often considered as the best Swedish footballer and he has consistently demonstrated that in his time in Italy.

In the summer of 2004, Italian superpower Juventus signed Zlatan for a lumpsome €19 million and in his two seasons in Turin for the Old Lady, he did indeed repay his employers with 23 goals in 70 appearances and strings of match chaging flicks and turns.

But in the summer of 2006 when Juventus were relegated to the Italian Serie B because of their involvement in the calciopoli scandal. Zlatan Ibrahimovic was one of the first players to head out of Turin and was signed by Inter Milan for €24.8 million. Under coach Roberto Mancini, he developed into an ever better and more reliable striker and won back to back scudetto with Inter Milan.

On the last day of the 2007-2008 Italian Serie A season, Zlatan Ibrahimović came off the bench in the second half against Parma and scored two goals to secure Inter Milan their third successive Serie A triumph.

In the summer of 2009 after winning yet another Scudetto with Inter, Ibrahimovic joined Spanish powerhouse Barcelona and won La Liga with them in the 2009-10 campaign. However, he failed to see eye-to-eye with coach Pep Guardiola and joined AC Milan on a season-long loan. Ibrahimovic won the Italian championship.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic made his debut for Sweden in a goalless friendly match against the Faroe Islands on January 31, 2001. He has since settled into the first team and played for Sweden in the 2002 World Cup, Euro 2004 and 2006 World Cup. Ibrahimović was awarded the 2007 Swedish Golden Ball as the country’s top player of the year in November.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic Video:

Gianluigi ‘Gigi’ Buffon is an Italy international footballer who currently features for the Italian giants Juventus. He plays as a goalkeeper and is considered as one of the best goalies in the world. Buffon won the 2006 World Cup with Italy.

Buffon was born into a sporting family and at the age of just 17 years of age, he made his Italian Serie A debut for Parma against AC Milan in November 1995. He won the UEFA Cup with Parma in 1999 and was signed by Italian superpower Juventus in the summer of 2001 for 52 million euros, a record transfer fee for a goalkeeper.

Buffon has been worth every penny of that sum. He was a pivotal factor in Juventus reaching the final of the UEFA Champions League in 2003 and has also been vital throughout his tenure for the Old Lady. In the summer of 2006 when Juventus was relegated to the Italian Serie A as a punishment for their participation in the Calcioploi scandal, Buffon was one of the few players to pledge their future to the club.

Buffon has been equally successful in the international areana for Italy. He made his debut for Italy when he was just 19 against Russia in a 1998 World Cup play-off. He missed Euro 2000 because of injury but features for Italy at the 2002 World Cup,Euro 2004 and 2006 World Cup finals.

Awards: – 2 Serie A titles – 1 UEFA Cup title – 1 World Cup title

Personal honours: - FIFA Best Goalkeeper of the Year 2004, 2005, and 2006 – European Footballer of the Year 2003, 2004, 2006 – UEFA Champions League Most Valuable Player in 2003

Gianluigi Buffon Video:

Paulo Maldini is an Italian football player who plays for AC Milan and who has been regular in Italy’s national line up. He has remained in AC Milan since 1984, and made over 700 appearences – a club and Serie A record (he passed Franco Baresi at 512). This season he serves as the team’s captain.

He is the son of Cesare Maldini who used to play in AC Milan as well as coach the Italian national team. Maldini plays defense, primarily in left back position but sometimes as central back.

Maldini is renowned as one of the best defenders of football in all times and was the best at the peak of his career. His best qualities are his leadership skills, cool temperament, and impeccable defending.

Maldini is still playing at the very highest level and finished top-ten in the FIFA World Player of the Year in 2005.

His major achievements are:

7 Serie A triumphs
1 Coppa Italia
5 Supercoppa Italia
4 Champions League
4 European Supercup
1 World Cup trophy

Maldini is also in the FIFA 100 as selected by Pelé.

Paolo Maldini Video:

Luís Filipe Madeira Caeiro Figo, commonly known simply as Luis Figo, is a Portugese football player who features for the Italian powerhouse Inter Milan. He is a versatile player who can play either a midfielder or a winger.

Luis Figo was the 2000 European Footballer of the Year, the 2001 FIFA World Player of the Year, and was named amongst the FIFA 100. He is one of the few players to have featured with success both for FC Barcelona and Real Madrid and was also the captain of the Portugal national team until he retired at the end of the 2006 World Cup.

Luis Figo graduated from the youth academy at Portuguese powerhouse Sporting Lisbon and made his debut for them in 1989. He won the Under-20 World Championships and Under-16 European Championships with Portugal along with the other components of the Portuguese Golden Generation (such as Rui Costa, Joao Pinto, Rui Costa and Sérgio Conceição).

Luis Figo earned his first full international cap for Portugal in 1991. He was signed by Spanish superpower FC Barcelona in the summer of 1995. He won successive La Liga titles and the UEFA Cup-Winners’ Cup(in 1996) and was a huge favourite with the Blaugrana faithful for his tricks, leaderships skills, intricate dribblings, freekicks and mesmerizing oversteps until the summer of 2000 when he moved to Barcelona’s eternal rival Real Madrid for a then world record transfer fee of 65 million euros.

Luis Figo played for Real Madrid until the end of the 2004-2005 season and won two La Liga titles and the UEFA Champions League crown in 2002. He was the first galacticos drafted into the Santiago Bernabeu by the club’s then president Florentino Perez.

Inter Milan signed Luis Figo on a free transfer on a two-year deal woth 6 million pounds. His contract was then renewed for one more year at the end of the 2006-2007 season as Figo became the fulcrum of the Inter Milan side tht won back to back scudetti in 2006 and 2007. Figo is also a firm favourite of the Inter Milan president Massimo Moratti who wants Figo to become the club’ sporting director once he decides to call it quits.

Luis Figo played a pivotal role in his nation’s progress to the semi-finals of Euro 2000 but like the rest of the team sank down in the 2002 World Cup. He then played for Portugal in Euro 2004 as thy reached the final. Figo then decided to retire from international football but returned in time for the 2006 World Cup in Germany where he captained his nation to the semi-finals.

Luis Figo is married to the Swedish model Helen Svedin and knows five different languages.

Some of Figo’s awards are:

European Footballer of the Year 2000
FIFA World Player of the Year 2001
Ranked among FIFA 100

Steven George Gerrard is a England international football player who currently features for the English Premier League giants Liverpool. He is an attacking central midfielder and is considered as one of the best in the world. He won the UEFA Cup in 2001 and the UEFA Champions League in 2005.

Gerrard has always been at Liverpool and grew up supporting the club. He made his debut in 1997 after two seasons was regular for the first team and with his pace, drive, energy and passion was a huge hit with the Kop.

Gerrard would win the UEFA Cup and the FA Cup among 5 trophies in 2001 and would continue his good run. In the 2005 Champions League final against AC Milan in Istanbul Gerrard inspired the Reds to a dramatic comeback win. Two years later in 2007 Gerrard was again the major reason why Liverpool reached the final of the competition. Gerrard also led the Reds to FA Cup triumph in 2006.

Gerrard has been a England international since 2000 and has earned close to 90 caps for his nation, scoring over 15 goals. Gerrard played for England at Euro 2000, 2002 World Cup, Euro 2004, 2006 Germany World Cup and 2010 South Africa World Cup.

Gerrard has won the PFA Young Player of the Year, PFA Player of the Year, European Midfielder of the year, Premier League Most Valuable Player (twice), and UEFA Most Valuable Player. He has also been awarded the MBE for his outstanding contributions in both the 2005 UEFA Champions League Final and the 2006 FA Cup Final in which he greatly inspired his team’s comeback.

Gerrard has been nominated three times for the FIFA Player of the Year, in 2005, 2006 and 2007. On 5 February 2008, it was announced he had been voted by fans as the Nationwide England Player of the Year for 2007.

Diego Armando Maradona is a former Argentine international football player who is considered by many to be one of the greatest ever footballlers. Some even say that he was the best footballer ever to be born and was awarded the FIFA Player of the Century jointly with the Brazilian legend Pele.

Diego Armando Maradona was born in Villa Fiorito, a shantytown on the southern outskirts of Buenos Aires to a poor family. His footballing talent came to the fore from a very early period and was drafted into the junior ranks of Argentine club Argentinos Juniors when he was just 19 years of age. When he was 12 years of age, he used to entertain the crowd at half-time by his tricks.

Diego Maradona made his senior debut for Argentinos Juniors when he was still only 15 years of age on October 20, 1976 and was signed by Boca Juniors in 1981 for 1 million pounds. Maradona grew to be a firm favourite at the club and still supports the club with his life.

Spanish and European giants FC Barcelona signed Maradona in the summer of 1982 for a then world record transfer fee of 5 million pounds. He had a short time at the Camp Nou and after a dispute with the club’s directors and the much publicized nightlife fiesta was transferred to Italian club Napoli for 6.9 million pounds.

Maradona became a folk hero at Napoli and led the Naples club to Italian Serie A titles in 1987 and 1990. He also won the Coppa Italia, the UEFA Cup and the Italian Supercup with Napoli. However, he was involved in several off pitch problems including drugs and allegations of fostering an illegitimate son.

Diego Maradona was sentenced to a 15-month ban for failing a drug test for cocaine and left Napoli in 1992. He moved back to Spain to play for Sevilla FC and then shipped himself back to Argentina, this time to play for Newell’s Old Boys and Boca Juniors. He retired from football on October 30,1997, on his 37th birthday.

Diego Maradona made his international debut for Argentina against Hungary when he was only 16 years of age. He led his nation to the World Youth Championships two years later.

Maradona played a good role in the 1992 World Cup finals but the competition ended in tears for him as Argentine were knocked out from the second round by Brazil. But four years later he played a star role at the 1986 World Cup finals and almost single-handedly led his nation to World Cup conquest.

It was during the 1986 World Cup that he scored two of the most memorable goals in football history. He scored both the goals against England in the semi-finals. The first goal was a deliberate hand ball, later dubbed as the “Hand of God” goal, and the second was an absolute beauty. He picked up the ball well inside his own half and after dribbling past almost effortless and certainly aesthetically five English players and the goalkeeper. This goal was voted the “Goal of the Century” in an online poll conducted by FIFA.

Diego Maradona played an instrumental role for Argentina in the 1990 World Cup and took his nation to the final of the competition, only to lose to Germany. During the 1994 World Cup finals, Maradona was sent home after failing a drug test for doping. That tarnished his image and Maradona is often branded a cheat by many in the world.

Diego Maradona did try his hand at coaching but didn’t gain much success with national team side during the 2010 mundial in South Africa. El Diego as his popularly called now handles a club in Qatar as their manager.

Ronaldo de Assis Moreira, commonly known as Ronaldinho, is a world class Brazilian international football player currently featuring for the Spanish and European champions FC Barcelona. Ronaldinho is one of the best players of all time and has won the World Cup with Brazil and the UEFA Champions League with Barcelona. He has been awarded the FIFA Player of the Year, European Player of the Year and FIFpro World Player of the Year all twice.

Ronaldinho was born in Porto Alegre, a city in the Rio Grande do Sul region of Brazil. Like most Brazilians, Ronaldinho began to play futsal but then moved into football. His playing career commenced at in the youth team at Porto Alegre club Grêmio, the same club that his elder brother Roberto de Assiss (now his agent) used to play his professional football for.

He made his first senior appearance for Gremio in a Libertadores Cup in 1998 and for the next three years, was arguably the best player at Gremio. He was signed by French giants Paris Saint Germain in the summer of 2001.

It was actually in the 2002 World Cup in Japan and Korea that Ronaldinho escalated into life and that was the competition that transcended him to a demi-God status. Against England in the last 8, he scored with an outlandish free-kick that was argubly the best goal of the competition.

Ronaldinho was signed by Catalan giants FC Barcelona for a staggering 21 million pounds and at Camp Nou, Ronaldinho became the best player in the world. He led Barcelona to the 2004-2005 La Liga title and also led them to the Spanish league conquest next season. Ronaldinho also won the 2006 UEFA Champions League with Barca and was adjudged as the best player in the competition that season.

But a very disappointing World Cup in Germany in the 2006 summer slided him down the table and these days there are talks that Ronaldinho’s poor form would never let him reinvent himself. Although people still accept that Ronaldinho remains one of the best footballers of all time, there are one or two winds of apprehension floating around suggesting that Ronaldinho, or Ronnie as he is often affectionately termed, is past it,

There was mounting speculation that Ronaldinho might leave Barcelona in the summmer of 2008 and move to AC Milan in Italy. A speculation which later came true when it was announced that he had signed a three year contract with the Italian powerhouse.