Jessica Ennis-Hill loses Olympic Games heptathlon title to Nafissatou Thiam
By Andy Charles
Last Updated: 14/08/16 7:21am
Defending champion Jessica Ennis-Hill was narrowly denied by Belgium's Nafissatou Thiam in a thrilling conclusion to the Olympic Games heptathlon.
Ennis-Hill needed to beat Thiam by nearly 10 seconds in the closing 800m but Thiam managed to pace her run well and eventually prevailed by a total of 35 points.
The Briton had a narrow lead going into the final three events but Thiam produced another personal best of 6.58m in the long jump to move into top spot, with Ennis-Hill jumping 6.34m.
At that point Katarina Johnson-Thompson was still in medal contention but her competition effectively came to an end in one of her weakest events, the javelin.
Johnson-Thompson could only manage 36.36m to drop to eighth place, while Ennis-Hill's best throw of 46.06m was one that she could at least be happy with.
But Thiam, who was throwing with heavy strapping on her elbow, launched a throw of 53.13m - not far short of another personal best - to take a handy lead into the closing 800m.
Ennis-Hill went off fast, as she had to, and won the race in two minutes, 09.07 seconds, but 21-year-old Thiam's time of 2:16.54 was a couple of seconds inside the target she needed to claim the biggest title of her fledgling career.
Johnson-Thompson finished fourth in the 800m to move back up to sixth place overall on 6.523 points - Thiam's winning total was 6,810 with Ennis-Hill on 6,775 and Canada's Brianne Thiesen Eaton took the bronze.
"When I came off from the javelin I had to speak to (coach) Toni (Minichiello) and I said, 'what have I got to do?'," Ennis-Hill said.
"He said, '10 seconds', and I was like, 'oh God that's so much', but I just thought I'm going to run hard like I always do at 800m and see what I can do.
"I knew she was running for that gold medal. She's had two great days she wasn't going to give that up."
Johnson-Thompson was disappointed with her performance and offered no excuses.
"I should have done better," said the Liverpool athlete. "We always said it was going to take 6,800 to win and it did - 6810. I feel like I was capable of it, but there's nothing I can do. I've got no excuses, I just didn't execute."
