Jessica Ennis: Unbelievable - From My Childhood Dreams to Winning Olympic Gold Read Online Free PDF Page A

it, not least for physio. Chell was always keen on getting me checked out and I was young when I first started seeing Alison Rose, a physiotherapist who would spend most of 2004 patching Kelly Holmes together and preventing her coming apart at raggedy seams as she ground her way to two gold medals. Ali would go on to be a key part of a group that we would christen Team Ennis, and would be a confidante and friend when things reached breaking point.
    Initially, I felt differently, and could not understand how this physio treatment was going to be good for me. She hurt me so much, with violent use of elbows, and I did not want to go back, only to be told I needed it by Chell. He was right, too – one of the few times I would admit as much.
    My first big event abroad was the World Youth Championships in Sherbrooke, Canada, in July 2003. Mum came to watch with my grandparents because they had family out there, and so they went to visit them. The biggest competition I had been to so far was the English Schools, so it was a huge step up. I did not notice the tall, gangly Jamaican who won the 200 metres in a championship record time and who went by the name of Usain Bolt, and was just thinking about my own performance. The heptathlon takes place over two days, with four events on day one – the hurdles, high jump, shot put and 200 metres, and three on day two – long jump, javelin and 800 metres; it was in Canada where it became blindingly obvious that I had a good day and a bad one.
    I started well but faded to fifth place on day two. One of the top girls came up to me afterwards.
    ‘You should have won it,’ she said.
    I smiled and thanked her, but I knew I was not going to get anywhere until I sorted out the second day. It had ruined everything. It was the same the following year when I went to the World Junior Championships in Grosseto in Italy and again suffered a second-day slump into eighth place. I grew frustrated because I had tasted the thrill of being near the top, only for it to be ripped away by weaker events. I decided I had to go away and work harder on day two.
    Things were still not great between me and Carmel at home. I only met my paternal grandad twice and when I was a teenager he fell ill and Dad flew to America. He was dying, and Dad was really cut up about it, because he wished that they had remained a closer family. While he was away, things deteriorated and I revised for my GCSEs to the backbeat of slammed doors and raised voices.
    I had the chance to go to America myself in 2004 when it came to choosing universities. I had been offered the possibility of going to East Carolina University on a scholarship. I was surprised because all I had done was go to the World Juniors and World Youths by that point, and I did not understand how they even knew about me, but I thought I should take a look and so Mum and I flew out there. They invited some of the track girls around to give us the hard sell. They were exactly how I imagined Americans: getting pizzas in, being hugely enthusiastic and gushing, ‘Oh my God, it’s so amazing.’ I felt that they were so different to the British and in many ways the whole set-up seemed dated. It was just so unlike everything I was used to and, although the facilities were great and Coach Kaiser sends me messages still, I thought it would all feel odd and unsettling. When one of the girls said, ‘And once a month we get to party’, I decided that was it.
    Everybody was pleased. Chell had said to me: ‘If you go anywhere else, it’s not going to work.’ I knew I had a great set-up and that he was a great coach doing amazing things for me, but it was an important stage of my life and, having been with Chell since 1999, I now wanted to assess my options.
    But with Chell whispering in my ear and Carolina a fading memory, I chose to go to Sheffield University. It might sound parochial, but I love this place. I was made in Sheffield and, from the Don Valley Stadium, where the