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

black – I can’t believe it.’ What couldn’t they believe?
    Normally, though, Dad was the sort to offer gentle shoves rather than full-blooded pushes. My grandad, Rod Powell, also played his part in teasing the reluctant athlete back into the fray. He would offer me incentives, perhaps five pounds, if I got a personal best at this competition or won there. He had been an active sportsman himself, and played football and tennis into his sixties, so he loved the fact I was doing so much, albeit that interest probably helped alienate Carmel all the more as I received both cash and attention.
    But during the sixth form I did try to do everything. My parents are quite liberal and would allow me to go out as long as I was in by midnight. A couple of other friends from school, Georgina and Lauren, had parents who were much stricter and did not like them going out at all. However, one time I remember Lauren and I both sneaked out and headed to a bar. Unfortunately for me, Eddie was in the bar and he told his mum, who told mine. I was undone by my first love. Mum was mad but not crazy, fixing me with guilt-inducing eyes and saying: ‘Have you got something to tell me?’
    The turning point came when I was sixteen. I went to a friend’s house party and there was a lot of alcohol. Someone spilt drinks and someone else tried to clean the carpet by pouring bleach all over it. I drank too much and crashed out. The next morning Grandad arrived, as planned, to take me to my athletics competition. I pulled the pillow over my head and tried to ignore the crushing headache. I really did not want to go, but I knew I had no choice. I got out of the house and was sick before I even got into Grandad’s car. We drove to the track at Woodburn Road in silence and I could tell how annoyed he was. I got changed and then I was sick again. I saw Chell and tried to hide my condition from him. It was a horrible feeling and I realized I could not do both now. I had to choose between athletics and a normal teenage, party-going lifestyle. It was the day I decided the sacrifice was worth it. There would be time for partying later on and I did not want to look back with regrets. From that day on I would not even go out before a big day’s training, because I knew that I would not get the maximum from the session. I swallowed my pride, walked out onto the track at Woodburn Road, somehow jumped a personal best in the high jump, and that was the end of the reluctant athlete.

3
TADPOLE
    I was improving year on year and I found that exciting. I was not imagining Olympic Games and global glory, but the slow rise through the junior ranks was enough to keep me interested.
    I managed to trade my first hand-me-down spikes from Nicola Gautier for a new pair from the Keep On Running shop near the Don Valley. That was a big deal, but I needed them because it was growing more serious by the year. In truth, it always had been, thanks to Chell’s approach and my desire. So I started competing abroad, getting picked to represent Great Britain in a four-team challenge in Switzerland when I was sixteen. The heptathlon was becoming my focus now and I liked it for the variety and the challenge of trying to do seven events. I scored 5194 points and came second. It was a nerve-wracking experience being away from home, but I was managing to bottle the fears. I still felt intimidated when I saw the bigger, more muscle-clad girls at the start, but I was measuring myself against myself, previous scores from previous years, and felt happier doing that. The strange thing about athletics is that you are up against rivals, but have little power to influence what they do. There can be a good deal of mind games and posturing, but essentially it’s an individual event, you against yourself, your best versus your inner fears.
    It was around that time that I got my first Lottery funding. It was £500 a year and was a big deal to me. Some athletes blew it on stupid things, but I needed