Her nickname might be “Tadpole” on the track and field but Jessica Ennis has just become a big fish in the Olympic pond.
With her heptathlon gold medal triumph at the World Championships on Sunday, the Sheffield athlete is set to make the leap from obscurity to Britain’s Olympic pin-up.
Marketing experts predict that the 23-year-old will become a millionaire by the 2012 Games and bookmakers are reporting a surge of bets on her becoming the next BBC Sports Personality of the Year.
“I had a lot of pressure and a lot of expectation from everyone,” said Ennis. “Luckily I was able to control that and deliver and that’s great practice for 2012 and hopefully I can do the same there.”
It has been a remarkable 12 months for the young athlete who, this time last year, was nursing a triple stress fracture to her right foot that left her wondering if her career might be over.
The injury not only ruled her out of the Beijing Olympics but forced her to retrain to take off from her other foot in the long jump.
Ennis’s family are thought to have lost about £18,000 in flights, tickets and accommodation for Beijing when she pulled out and they stayed away from the World Championships to reduce the pressure on her.
Yet in Berlin at the weekend Ennis led the competition throughout, becoming the first British woman to win the World Championships title with a personal best of 6,731 points.
Now she is being touted as the “face of 2012”. It is a role that the London Olympics organisers had envisaged going to the sprinter Christine Ohuruogu, who grew up close to the Olympic Park, before persistent questions over missed drug tests stained her seemingly perfect marketing story.
Ennis appears to have nothing in her past that could scare off the brand-makers. Her career began aged 10 when she was reluctantly packed off to an athletics scheme at the Don Valley Stadium in Sheffield during the school holidays. She has a degree in psychology from the University of Sheffield and a long-term boyfriend with whom she shares a home a mile down the road from her parents.
“British athletics has a new superstar and it is only a matter of time before big brands come calling,” said Jon Ridgeon, the managing director of Fast Track, a sports marketing agency. “She is a bright, articulate and personable individual who will no doubt have made London 2012 partners, such as EDF Energy, BT and BP, sit up and take notice of what she can bring to their brands. Her performance and her gold medal elevates her stock and marketability to a new level.”
Tim Crow, the chief executive of Synergy Sponsorship, said: “She has scarcity value and no baggage. Missing Beijing in fact worked in her favour because she is new news.” Ennis could now earn commercial revenues of more than £100,000 a year from off-track activities and appearance fees for major athletics events. Her National Lottery funding will increase from £19,500 to £25,000 this autumn and she will continue to receive support, such as access to facilities and sports scientists at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield, worth about £70,000 a year.
Ennis will also be in line for a gold medal bonus from adidas, her main sponsor, in a deal that should rise in value to at least £100,000 a year. Her company accounts show that assets of £14,632 in 2007 had increased to £89,416 last year. Her parents, Vinnie Ennis and Alison Powell, and Ennis’s younger sister, Carmel, 20, said yesterday that they could hardly bear to look at the television screen as they watched her triumph.
“She phoned us half an hour after she’d won it and was screaming, ‘Mum, I’ve done it’,” Ms Powell, a social care worker, said. “I still can’t believe it. That’s my daughter up there on the top of the podium, the champion of the world.”
Mr Ennis, a decorator who moved to Britain from Jamaica when he was 13, said: “Ever since she was a little girl she always wanted to stand on the top of a podium and there she is. I’m just so proud of her.”
Source:The times
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Michelle Wie divot becomes big issue for Europeans
Silence the crowds. It is a mantra of any team playing away from home and it is something that Alison Nicholas, the Europe captain, will have drummed into her players yesterday when they set off in pursuit of the Solheim Cup at Rich Harvest Farms, 50 miles west of Chicago.
In the early stages of the match, it seemed as if Europe had done just that. At one point they led in three of the morning fourballs and had an air of confidence that took the galleries, if not their opposition, by surprise.
But as the morning play wore on, and the United States started to turn the tables with some excellent, attacking golf, they had to scramble hard to finish the session trailing the Americans by a single point, 2½-1½, going into the afternoon foursomes.
And for diplomatic reasons it was just as well that Catriona Matthew, who partnered an out-of-sorts Maria Hjorth, sank a hole-winning birdie putt at the 18th hole to secure a half-point with the high-profile pairing of Michelle Wie and Morgan Pressel.
There was consternation among the European players and their captain when Wie asked for, and was given, a free drop from a heavily divoted and pock-marked area of the 18th fairway after she had been forced to lay up short of the par-five hole having been wayward off the tee.
The area had not been designated “ground under repair”, but the rules official nonetheless decreed that it should be considered thus. “We didn’t think anyone would be playing from that spot, so we didn’t mark it off,” she told Nicholas and Matthew. “But we’re trying to do the right thing here.” Whatever happened to the principle of playing the ball as it lies?
In many ways, it was just as well that Wie found a bunker with her third shot and could do nothing to prevent Matthew recording her fifth birdie of the day. The British Open champion had been calmness personified at the start of the round, smiling benignly as the galleries sang their songs and Christina Kim — a self-appointed cheerleader — went into the bleachers to lead the chants of U-S-A, U-S-A.
By the turn the European pair were two up, only to find themselves pegged back by some exceptional approach play and putting from Wie, who was looking more at home as the match unfolded.
The Americans won three holes on the trot from 12th to take the lead for the first time, but it would have seemed unfair if they had gone on to win. A half-point was a fair return for both sides.
Beth Daniel, the United States captain, had made much of her decision to send out Paula Creamer and Cristie Kerr, her top-ranked players, in the first match against Sophie Gustafson and Suzann Pettersen, but it looked to have backfired until Creamer sank a huge putt at the 16th to give her team the lead for the first time in the match. They went on to win by one hole.
Europe’s only winning point came from Helen Alfredsson, a former captain, and Tania Elosegui, who beat Julie Inkster and Angela Stanford by one hole.
If there was one area that should have concerned the officials, however, it was pace of play. With the morning matches taking almost six hours to complete, all the afternoon matches were heavily delayed. Six hours for matchplay? Surely not.
Source:The times
In the early stages of the match, it seemed as if Europe had done just that. At one point they led in three of the morning fourballs and had an air of confidence that took the galleries, if not their opposition, by surprise.
But as the morning play wore on, and the United States started to turn the tables with some excellent, attacking golf, they had to scramble hard to finish the session trailing the Americans by a single point, 2½-1½, going into the afternoon foursomes.
And for diplomatic reasons it was just as well that Catriona Matthew, who partnered an out-of-sorts Maria Hjorth, sank a hole-winning birdie putt at the 18th hole to secure a half-point with the high-profile pairing of Michelle Wie and Morgan Pressel.
There was consternation among the European players and their captain when Wie asked for, and was given, a free drop from a heavily divoted and pock-marked area of the 18th fairway after she had been forced to lay up short of the par-five hole having been wayward off the tee.
The area had not been designated “ground under repair”, but the rules official nonetheless decreed that it should be considered thus. “We didn’t think anyone would be playing from that spot, so we didn’t mark it off,” she told Nicholas and Matthew. “But we’re trying to do the right thing here.” Whatever happened to the principle of playing the ball as it lies?
In many ways, it was just as well that Wie found a bunker with her third shot and could do nothing to prevent Matthew recording her fifth birdie of the day. The British Open champion had been calmness personified at the start of the round, smiling benignly as the galleries sang their songs and Christina Kim — a self-appointed cheerleader — went into the bleachers to lead the chants of U-S-A, U-S-A.
By the turn the European pair were two up, only to find themselves pegged back by some exceptional approach play and putting from Wie, who was looking more at home as the match unfolded.
The Americans won three holes on the trot from 12th to take the lead for the first time, but it would have seemed unfair if they had gone on to win. A half-point was a fair return for both sides.
Beth Daniel, the United States captain, had made much of her decision to send out Paula Creamer and Cristie Kerr, her top-ranked players, in the first match against Sophie Gustafson and Suzann Pettersen, but it looked to have backfired until Creamer sank a huge putt at the 16th to give her team the lead for the first time in the match. They went on to win by one hole.
Europe’s only winning point came from Helen Alfredsson, a former captain, and Tania Elosegui, who beat Julie Inkster and Angela Stanford by one hole.
If there was one area that should have concerned the officials, however, it was pace of play. With the morning matches taking almost six hours to complete, all the afternoon matches were heavily delayed. Six hours for matchplay? Surely not.
Source:The times
Lewis Hamilton claims first pole of season
Lewis Hamilton claimed his first pole position of the season as McLaren locked out the front row for Sunday's European Grand Prix in Valencia.
The Briton, fresh from winning his first race of the season last time out in Hungary, posted a time of one minute 38.498 seconds to beat team-mate Heikki Kovalainen to top spot by less than a tenth of a second.
Brawn GP's Rubens Barrichello claimed third place having led the way in Q2, although the Brazilian fared better than team-mate and championship leader Jenson Button, who took fifth.
Red Bull Racing's Sebastian Vettel salvaged fourth place from what had been a difficult two days of practice, although his team-mate - and Button's nearest title challenger - Mark Webber, was ninth.
Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen took sixth on the starting grid ahead of Williams' Nico Rosberg. Home favourite Fernando Alonso will be disappointed with eighth place for Renault while BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica completed the top 10.
Source:The times
The Briton, fresh from winning his first race of the season last time out in Hungary, posted a time of one minute 38.498 seconds to beat team-mate Heikki Kovalainen to top spot by less than a tenth of a second.
Brawn GP's Rubens Barrichello claimed third place having led the way in Q2, although the Brazilian fared better than team-mate and championship leader Jenson Button, who took fifth.
Red Bull Racing's Sebastian Vettel salvaged fourth place from what had been a difficult two days of practice, although his team-mate - and Button's nearest title challenger - Mark Webber, was ninth.
Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen took sixth on the starting grid ahead of Williams' Nico Rosberg. Home favourite Fernando Alonso will be disappointed with eighth place for Renault while BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica completed the top 10.
Source:The times
The fifth Test with Hawk-Eye
Follow every ball of the nailbiting Ashes decider with Hawk-Eye, the computer software that answers some of the age-old questions in cricket.
With the series delicately poised at 1-1, Australia need only to draw with England at the Brit Oval to retain the famous urn.
Every decision is critical, and you can see if the umpires got it right with our graphics, statistics and analysis.
Was Andrew Strauss out leg-before? How far did Graeme Swann turn that ball? How quick is James Anderson's slower ball?
Our ball-by-ball coverage is complemented with over-by-over analysis of the main talking points by one of our writers.
View the live updated scoreboard to see how the game is progressing.
And sign up for our Predictor game in which you can guess when the next wicket will fall and how many runs will be scored off each over.
Pledge your allegiance to England or Australia and see which country has the most knowledgeable fans.
Mike Atherton delivers his breakfast report and tea-time analysis, plus listen to our podcasts and watch Shane Warne's video series, including one on How England can beat Australia.
You can also follow the Ashes live on your mobile, free of charge. To get live scores and The Times's live commentary, go to http://m.pulselive.com on your phone's browser or text the word ASHES to 87700 for a link to our Ashes page and then follow the link to the live commentary.
Stay with Times Online for the best coverage of the Ashes decider.
Source:The times
With the series delicately poised at 1-1, Australia need only to draw with England at the Brit Oval to retain the famous urn.
Every decision is critical, and you can see if the umpires got it right with our graphics, statistics and analysis.
Was Andrew Strauss out leg-before? How far did Graeme Swann turn that ball? How quick is James Anderson's slower ball?
Our ball-by-ball coverage is complemented with over-by-over analysis of the main talking points by one of our writers.
View the live updated scoreboard to see how the game is progressing.
And sign up for our Predictor game in which you can guess when the next wicket will fall and how many runs will be scored off each over.
Pledge your allegiance to England or Australia and see which country has the most knowledgeable fans.
Mike Atherton delivers his breakfast report and tea-time analysis, plus listen to our podcasts and watch Shane Warne's video series, including one on How England can beat Australia.
You can also follow the Ashes live on your mobile, free of charge. To get live scores and The Times's live commentary, go to http://m.pulselive.com on your phone's browser or text the word ASHES to 87700 for a link to our Ashes page and then follow the link to the live commentary.
Stay with Times Online for the best coverage of the Ashes decider.
Source:The times
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