Jessica Ennis-Hill admits doping scandal hurts everyone in athletics
By Geraint Hughes, Sky Sports News HQ
Last Updated: 17/08/15 9:55am
Olympic champion Jessica Ennis-Hill says it is a difficult time to be an athlete following the recent doping allegations.
Ennis-Hill was speaking exclusively to Sky Sports News HQ's Geraint Hughes from the British Athletics team training camp in Japan ahead of the World Athletics Championships, which begin in Beijing on Saturday.
"It's good that we are now catching the cheats finally," she says. "Sadly there are a lot of people in many sports who are cheating, but it's difficult to take when it's your sport."
The heptathlete has spoken out about doping cheats before. In 2011, she took silver at the World Athletics Championships in Daegu - the gold was won by Russia's Tatyana Chernova, who had only been cleared to return to the sport 16 days before competition after serving a two-year doping ban.
Ennis-Hill believes Chernova should have been banned for a longer period and that the 2011 result should be annulled.
Despite all the problems facing her sport, the London 2012 Olympic champion has urged the public not to judge all athletes as cheats.
"A lot of hard work needs to be done and things need to be investigated," she adds. "But there are athletes who train not just for one or two years, but their entire careers 'clean' and we must remember that. Athletics is a fantastic sport."
Ennis-Hill does not expect to be challenging for the gold medal in Beijing, insisting she is not "up to speed" having only recently returned to athletics after giving birth to her son, Reggie, 13 months ago.
She admits briefly contemplating retirement after becoming a mother but is now firmly focused on defending her Olympic title in Rio next year.
"I don't expect to be contending for the gold, I think that is just little unrealistic right now, I'm not quite up to speed. I need these Championships to see where I am at as my coach (Toni Minichiello) and I plan for next year which is the priority.
"It's been coming back and I’m improving and I am competitive so challenging for a medal is not out of the question."
