Jessica Ennis-Hill hints at London 2017 bid as she weighs up retirement after Rio 2016 Olympics silver

Exclusive: Ennis-Hill says return to London could be the best way to say her goodbyes
Brave face: Jessica Ennis-Hill’s winning margin in the 800m was not enough for her to claim heptathlon gold
Paul Gilham/Getty Images

Jessica Ennis-Hill has said she would walk away from the sport were it not for the lure of a potential career swansong in London next year.

Ennis-Hill came up just short in the defence of her Olympic heptathlon title over the weekend to finish with the silver behind Belgium’s Nafi Thiam.

The 30-year-old Briton has hinted she may retire from the sport but said a farewell at the World Championships in the capital where she enjoyed a career high at London 2012 was tempting.

She told Standard Sport: “I think it would be tough to do if it wasn’t London. It’s much more tempting because I know how amazing that can be. That in itself is a motivation.”

Had Ennis-Hill won gold on Saturday night in Rio de Janeiro, it would have also have made the decision easier to walk away from the sport altogether.

“It’s difficult as you want to end at the very top,” she said. “But I’ve now got a big decision to make. I need to go home and think about what I want to do for the rest of my life.

“I feel very happy and content with the way my career has gone and what I’ve achieved so far. I’ve achieved much more than I ever expected.

“I remember after London 2012, I couldn’t ever have imagined myself picking myself up for Rio and doing it all over again but I came here after four very different and interesting years and have come away with another Olympic medal. It’s now a big decision because athletics has been a big part of my life for so many years now. There’s a lot to think about.”

After finishing the event finale, the 800metres, in which she needed to beat Thiam by nearly 10 seconds, she turned to bronze medallist Brianne Theisen-Eaton and said, “it’s so stressful, why do we do it?”

She added: “It’s just so hard, it’s one of the hardest events so you need to make sure the motivation is there to carry on.”

After two days and seven events of competition, Ennis-Hill came up short by just 35 points and admitted in the ensuing days that would be difficult to come to terms with.

“You naturally think ‘what if I’d thrown a bit further in the shot put’ or done this and that throughout the competition then maybe I would have won it,” she said. “But the reality was she was the best athlete over the two days and I did all I could to win gold. I competed out of my skin but that’s just how it is.”

The competition had been billed by many as an all-British tussle between Ennis-Hill and Katarina Johnson-Thompson but the latter had another difficult competition to finish down in sixth.

But Ennis-Hill tipped her rival and teammate to bounce back.

In Pictures: Team GB's medal run at Rio 2016 Olympics

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“I think it’s been tough for her,” she said. “She’s put that pressure on herself to perform at a big championships and win a medal. She’s got some strong events and some that don’t work for her. Physically, she’s a great athlete, she’s strong and talented, and has all the components there but bringing it all together over two days is tough. She’ll come back stronger and you only need to look at her high jump.

“She’s still got huge potential. She’s already got it all, she just needs to put it all together.”

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