Jessica Ennis coach hits out at UK Athletics for labelling her ‘fat’
Jessica Ennis‘s coach has hit out at what he termed “distractions” from senior figures from within UK Athletics in the buildup to the Olympics.
Toni Minichiello, 45, who has coached the 2012 poster girl since the heptathlete was 11 years old, revealed that a “high‑ranking person” – he would not say exactly who – had suggested “that she’s fat and she’s got too much weight”.
Minichiello dismissed the criticism, and added that both Ennis’s weight and body fat percentage had remained constant in recent times. He said that his role, as part of “Team Jennis”, was to create “a bubble of common sense around her”, helping to deflect the distractions of an Olympic year.
“The things you can’t deal with are what we’ve dubbed ‘silver bullets’,” he said. “And other people. You can’t deal with the expectations and pressures that are on other people, like the BOA’s [British Olympic Association] team management.”
The former civil servant, who, like Ennis, hails from Sheffield, said that “people in fairly high positions, who should know better” were guilty of adding to a slew of unwanted distractions, although he admitted that the people in question were “trying to be helpful”.
“I get emails, phone calls, text messages and voicemails giving me advice on what I should be doing with Jessica Ennis that’s going to make a difference. It’s a lot of background noise that you can get easily distracted by,” he said.
“I always read it and have a look and think maybe there is something there. Yes, it might be a great idea, but it’s not a great idea for today, it’s a great idea for next year. I’ve never had any issue with her weight or shape. There are times I’ve wished she was taller, but that’s it.”
After Ennis’ preparations were torpedoed by a stress fracture of her right ankle in the weeks before the Beijing Games four years ago, London will be the stage for her Olympic debut. Despite extensive experience of international competition, including gold medals at the European Championships, World Championships and World Indoor Championships, Minichiello expects the biggest sporting event in the world to present new challenges for Ennis, especially in light of her newfound celebrity status.
“The difference is that she’s now a ‘personality’,” said Minichiello. “If she walks into the dining room, people will go ‘Ooh, that’s Jessica Ennis from athletics.’
“Equally, she’d turn round and go ‘Wow, that’s David Beckham on the Great Britain football team.’ So there’s lots of distractions.”
Minichiello also admitted to being less than enamoured with the BOA’s move (expected, but not yet formally announced) to insist that all members of Team GB sign up to a code of conduct ahead of the Games. “What’s a big deal to Clive Woodward at the minute is the athletes’ agreement,” he said, clearly unimpressed.
Asked whether he thought Woodward, a former coach of the England rugby team, had opted for a pre-emptive strike to avert the kind of furore that engulfed the national side at the Rugby World Cup last year, Minichiello stressed a distinction between team and individual sport. “The Olympics, for Jess, is an individual environment and she knows how to behave to get the best out of herself.
“You know what? Jessica doesn’t have a problem with behaviour,” he said. “We don’t have an issue there, we’re not going to get embroiled in bad stuff. She signs the flag, we just get on. It’s an aesthetic.” But, he added: “I may get into trouble for [saying] that.”
After her best season-opening performance in the javelin (her weakest event) and an excellent hurdling display at the Manchester Great CityGames (notwithstanding the organisational error that saw the athletes clear only nine barriers, rather than the regulation 10), Ennis’s season has so far given cause for quiet optimism. However, the buildup to London begins in earnest this weekend.
A full heptathlon in the Austrian town of Götzis will give the 5ft 4in Ennis a chance to measure herself against the women who have beaten her into second place at the past two major global championships. Both Nataliya Dobrynska, the 6ft Ukrainian world indoor champion, and Tatyana Chernova, the 6ft 2in Russian who claimed gold at the world championships last year, are expected to be in attendance.
While these towering Eastern Europeans will be billed as Ennis’s main rivals this weekend, Minichiello is adamant that there are six athletes, Ennis included, who are capable of reaching the top of the Olympic podium.
Minichiello said that, across the two days of Olympic competition on 3-4 August, he and Ennis would target a score that equates to 98% of her personal best scores in each individual event. That would be 6,896 points – a slim improvement on her current overall personal best of 6,823.
Minichiello stressed that all Ennis could do was to put herself in contention for the gold medal. And he remained sanguine about the possibility of a competitor firing one of those “silver bullets”.
“If somebody comes along and blows that out of the water and scores 7,000, then so be it,” he said.
UK Athletics declined to comment on Thursday night.
Article source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/may/24/jessica-ennis-fat-olympics?newsfeed=true
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Categories: Fat Loss Diary Tags: Eastern Europeans, Jessica Ennis, London, Rugby World Cup