Ennis can live up to expectancy in Olympics heptathlon bid

As the Olympic Games draw closer, the pressure grows on Jessica Ennis to justify her 4/6 favouritism to claim the heptathlon gold medal.

Much is expected of the 26-year-old, who is a former World and European champion, and has also claimed a Commonwealth bronze medal, along with a silver medal in the world championships as recently as last year.

Such a pedigree has made her clear favourite to take the gold on home soil, and Ennis is aware that if she fails to achieve anything other than a first place finish on the podium, her efforts will be seen as a failure.

“Because of the expectation and pressure, I think anything but gold, everyone would view that as a failure and I’m aware of that,” she told BBC Sport.

“If I give it absolutely everything and don’t come away with the gold, then I did everything I could have done, but just wasn’t the best person on the day.

“There is a lot of expectation going into a home Games for anyone, but I’m just really focused on my training and how things have been going and realistically what I can achieve,” she continued.

Ennis is yet more determined to make her mark on this summer’s Games, bearing in mind the unfortunate circumstances of four years ago, when a stress fracture in her right foot ruled her out of Beijing 2008.

Since recovering though, she has achieved a world number one ranking in heptathlon events for the past three years, and will be hoping her efforts culminate in triumph at this summer’s competition.

Her only serious competition would appear to come from Russian Tatyana Chernova, who is afforded a 15/8 chance to claim Olympic success.

The 24-year-old won a heptathlon bronze medal at Beijing 2008, and her world championship success in Daegu last year suggests she will pose the main threat to Ennis’s hopes this summer.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.