As the athletics begins in Paris, the 2012 Olympic champion reflects on the French pressure and backs British gold hopes
The pressure of competing for an Olympic gold medal is challenging enough, but doing so in front of a home crowd adds an entirely different level of intensity.
To heighten the nerves even further, heptathletes and decathletes face the additional stress of performing across multiple events, where there is so much room for mistakes.
“It is an insane amount of pressure,” says Jessica Ennis-Hill as she reflects on her London 2012 win. Never before has a British athlete faced such pressure going into an Olympic Games. She was the poster girl of London 2012 with her image plastered all over the city.
But she did not let this pressure get to her. Instead she absorbed it and used it as her weapon during the two days of heptathlon. It wasn’t a case of settling into things as she came out guns blazing on the opening day of the Games with a blistering 12.54 in the 100m hurdles – the fastest sprint hurdles ever during a heptathlon at the time. But how did she handle that pressure?
“You’ve just got to use that pressure and that energy to help you perform at your best,” Ennis-Hill tells AW. “I had to drown out some of the noise in the stadium as much as I possibly could because there are lots of thoughts that creep into your mind when you are out there performing.
“There can also be such a benefit when you are the home athlete because you get such a boost.”
Jessica Ennis (Mark Shearman)
It was all about focusing on the mental side for Ennis-Hill, no matter how fit and strong you are it’s difficult to strive to the top without the mental preparation. “You can be the best physical athlete you can possibly be, but if your head is not in the right place and your mindset isn’t, then you are not going to perform where you need to be,” says Ennis-Hill. “There is a disconnect.”
Numerous French athletes will face the challenge of competing under the intense pressure of their home crowd in Paris, including Cyrena Samba-Mayela.
Her remarkable performance in the women’s 100m hurdles which secured her a European gold medal this summer has given the home crowd a lot to be excited about.
She powered to victory in a championship record and world lead of 12.31 (0.8).
Another gold medal that went to France during the European Championships was claimed by Gabriel Tual in the 800m. He recently shaved two seconds off his PB in Paris,…
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