2012 London Summer Olympics

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Heptathlete and poster girl, Jessica Ennis, became the darling of her country when she clinched gold in one of the most grueling athletics events at the Olympic Stadium on Sunday.

While the evening belonged to 100m sprint king, Jamaica's Usain Bolt, who broke his Olympic record with a time of 9.63 seconds on way to gold, Britain's favorite athlete, Ennis, was virtually unbeatable in the morning session, winning gold in front of a capacity crowd of 80,000.

Ennis set three personal bests in the seven-event discipline to beat the challenge of Russia's world champion Tatyana Chernova, who claimed silver with 6,628 points, and Ukraine's Lyudmyla Yosypenko, who took bronze with 6,618.

It was also a return to glory days for Ennis who had to bear the pain of not competing at the Beijing Games due to an injury. The British poster girl set personal bests in the 100m hurdles (12.54sec) and 200m (22.83sec) on Saturday to amass a whopping 4,158 points, and taking an overnight lead of 184 points over Lithuania's Austra Skujyte.

On Sunday, the 26-year-old former world champ was off to a flyer, clearing 6.48 meters in long jump to take her total to 5,159. That put her in an unassailable lead.

Then, to the roar of the packed stadium, the Sheffield-born athlete hurled the javelin to a distance of 47.49 meters (another personal best). Though Lithuania's Skujyte threw 51.13 meters to reduce Ennis' lead to 188 points, but the British athlete again showed her class in 800m, emerging faster by seven seconds against the Lithuanian.

Ennis was quoted by the media as saying that she was edgy after the Beijing disappointment. "I honestly can't believe it, after all the hard work and after the disappointment in Beijing. I am just so happy," she told the media.

Later, she also conceded that her fiancé, Andy Hill, was a pillar of strength, adding that she owed her title triumph to him.

 

It was a great night for host nation Britain at the Olympics, as Team GB scooped three gold medals in the Olympic stadium.

Greg Rutherford won in the long jump, Mo Farah took gold in the 10,000m, and poster girl Jessica Ennis raced home in the 800m to seal victory in the heptathlon

 

 

Jessica Ennis Brings Joy to Home Fans with Heptathlon Win