Jessica Ennis-Hill announced her retirement from athletics today - Chief Sports Writer Scott Wilson explains why she should be remembered as one of Britain's all-time sporting greats

ON the opening day of athletics competition at the London Olympics, I remember stepping out of Stratford Underground station and looking up at the giant Westfield shopping complex that stands opposite the Olympic Stadium.

There, on its side, was a giant billboard of a beaming Jessica Ennis-Hill. The poster girl of London 2012, with the hopes of an expectant nation on her shoulders. It was surely her greatest success that she spent the next two days achieving everything that was expected of her – and more.

Britain has been blessed with some hugely talented sportswomen down the years, but few, if any, have excelled under the kind of pressure that was piled onto Ennis-Hill at her home Olympics.

First, she was expected to perform on the track and in the field, in probably the most demanding of female athletics disciplines. Then, she was tasked with being the figurehead of the biggest sporting event staged in this country for more than half-a-century.

She succeeded superbly on both scores, adding an Olympic gold medal to her world titles of 2009 and 2011, the latter of which is still to be formally confirmed and awarded to her despite Tatyana Chernova’s drug taking having been revealed.

Her intensely competitive spirit was highlighted by her approach to the final 800m. She effectively only had to finish to win gold, such was the level of her performances in the previous six events, but having briefly been overtaken by Chernova, she dug deep into her reserves of resolve to power to victory in the final 50m. The roar that accompanied her triumph was as loud and heartfelt as anything heard at any of the venues at London 2012.

The Northern Echo:

That reflected the extent of her sporting achievement, but also highlighted just how tightly she had been clasped to the hearts of the nation.

She is arguably the most recognisable female sportsperson in the country, yet she remains the down-to-earth Yorkshirewoman who was bullied as a child for being small, but who refused to be cowed and worked tirelessly to become an Olympic champion.

There was a lot of talk about legacy in the build up to London 2012, but perhaps the biggest legacy to have emerged from the Games is that a generation of schoolgirls decided they wanted to be like Ennis-Hill.

She proved it could be cool to love sport, even if it meant having to spend long winter hours training in the rain and snow. She was never afraid to speak her mind, most notably when she demanded that her name be removed from a stand at Sheffield United in the wake of Ched Evans’ conviction for rape (which has subsequently been quashed), but never sought to use her celebrity status for the vacuous pursuit of the trappings of fame.

She was aware of her responsibilities as a sporting role model, and always looked to inspire a new generation of girls to take up sport. If Britain is able to celebrate more female Olympic medals in the next decade or so, a lot of that will be down to Ennis-Hill.