Posts Tagged ‘Jessica Ennis’

Fat, my abs

NEWLY CROWNED heptathlon gold medalist Jessica Ennis of Great Britain has the lean and muscular body you would expect of a world-class athlete who competes in seven events over 2 days.

She has six-pack abs on her 5-5 frame to die for.

Still earlier this year, an unnamed British athletic official called Ennis “fat.”

-John Smallwood

Article source: http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/olympics/165101496.html

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Van Commenee denies 'fat' claims

Head coach Charles van Commenee says he was not the “senior figure” at UK Athletics who called British heptathlete Jessica Ennis “fat”.

Ennis’s coach Toni Minichiello had claimed in an interview that an unnamed official had said Ennis was carrying too much weight.

But Van Commenee said: “I have never called Jessica Ennis fat simply because there is no reason for it.

“What other people may have said, I have no clue.”

“I can imagine that people think there can be only one person who can fire those “silver bullets” as they were described and that fits my profile. I can guarantee you that is not the case”

Charles van Commenee

The comments came to light last Friday, although the interview with Minichiello was conducted in November 2011.

“I spoke to Jessica on Wednesday about this situation,” added Van Commenee. “She is totally all right with it. As we know, she performed outstandingly [

setting a new British heptathlon record in the days after the story broke].

“For her there is no issue, for me there is no issue.”

Ennis told BBC Sport: “I was quite surprised but I think it did all get blown out of proportion, what with this year and the attention around the Olympics. I’m just focusing on training and what I’ve got to do.”

But she added: “I think one of the most important things is that young kids look at athletes as role models and look up to them and want to be like them.

“I wouldn’t want any young kids thinking that I viewed myself as overweight because I don’t and that’s not a healthy way to be. I don’t want them to look at themselves and think, ‘well if she’s overweight then maybe I am’.

“I think you just have to be some careful with some comments that are made.”

Van Commenee, who was in Rome on Thursday night for the first Diamond League meeting of the season in Europe, added: “I understand the concern that has been revealed almost across the nation because there are some young people who may read things into that which may jeopardise their health. So I can see that context.

“I was surprised to read it because it hasn’t been brought to my attention before.

“I can imagine that people think there can be only one person who can fire those ‘silver bullets’, as they were described, and that fits my profile. I can guarantee you that is not the case.”

Van Commenee said that while offensive language would not be tolerated by the sport’s governing body, he felt he could not be held responsible for policing the policy.

“It goes almost without saying,” he said. “Do you come in the office on time? Yes. Do you report back to your line manager? Yes. Do you use appropriate language? Yes. But do I remind people every day to do these things. No.”

Article source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/athletics/18291554

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ENNIS LAUGHS OFF 'FAT' SLUR

Former world heptathlon champion Jessica Ennis has laughed off reports a senior figure at UK Athletics has described her as fat ahead of this summer’s Olympics.

Ennis’s coach Toni Minichiello claimed that an unnamed “high-ranking person” within the governing body labelled the 26-year-old “fat and she’s got too much weight”.

Minichiello said the comments came amid perceived intrusion in Ennis’ preparation for the Olympics from “people in fairly high positions, who should know better”.

He admitted that people were trying to be helpful, but added in The Guardian: “I get e-mails, 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.

“I’ve never had any issue with her weight or shape. There are times I’ve wished she was taller, but that’s it.”

“I’m not going to go into that right now. It’s not an issue at all,” Ennis told reporters in Gotzis, where she will compete in her only full heptathlon before the London Games this weekend.

“It’s definitely a funny one, but it’s not an issue.”

While Minichiello was concerned about possible distractions as Ennis looks to bounce back from losing two world titles in the space of seven months, the Sheffield athlete added: “I don’t think so.

“I think I came into this year expecting different things to happen, different articles and things like that. So I think if you come into it expecting those kind of things then it’s not such a shock when you read things like that.

“I obviously see things. Things come up on Twitter and I read things. But I try not to focus too much on reading all the articles; just kind of get on with it, laugh it off really.

“It’s not something I worry out. It’s not something that’s stressing me at the moment so I can kind of just brush it off and ignore it really.”

UK Athletics declined to respond to Minichiello’s comments, which originated from an interview conducted in November last year.

Minichiello said it was “ludicrous” to describe Ennis as fat, but conceded his “defensive” attitude towards an athlete he has coached since she was 11 sometimes comes across the wrong way.

“I am an easily frustrated individual and my support of Jessica is huge really,” he said. “Having had a relationship since she was such a young age, my problem is I’m incredibly defensive of that and of her and sometimes when that comes out it comes out in the wrong way I think.

“I hope people understand my motivation behind it and understand it’s aimed to be for the best, but quite often it’s not perceived in that way.”

Asked if everyone was now pulling in the same direction, the 45-year-old added: “Yeah, I think we’ve got everything we need

at this point and this weekend will hopefully show that most of that’s come to fruition.

“(Biomechanist) Paul Brice is here so we’re going to pick up a lot of data from that and allow me to write the next 10 weeks of training into London to get that right.

“I’m a little bit nervous about putting pen to paper, it depends on what figures we come out with and how we move forward, but touch wood it’s all pretty good – which means I’ve probably jinxed the weekend now.”

Ennis will face the two women who have taken her world titles this weekend, with Russia’s Tatyana Chernova having triumphed in Daegu last year and Olympic champion Nataliya Dobrynska winning the pentathlon at the world indoors in Istanbul in March with a new world record.

Four years ago Ennis endured Olympic heartache when she suffered a double stress fracture in her right foot in Gotzis, ruling her out of Beijing, but since returning to the small Austrian town in 2010 she has won the event twice in succession.

Article source: http://www.sportinglife.com/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=others/12/05/25/manual_084135.html

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Ennis 'labelled fat' by UK Athletics

Fri, 25 May 11:06:00 2012

Jessica Ennis’s coach has hit out at a senior UK Athletics official whom he alleges said the Olympic hopeful is fat.

Toni Minichiello, who has coached the heptathlete since she was 11, claimed an unnamed “high-ranking person” told him: “She’s fat and she’s got too much weight.”

Ennis, who won a silver medal at last year’s World Championships, is considered one of Britain’s leading medal hopes.

The 26-year-old’s attractive looks have made her a poster girl for London 2012, and was chosen to model the Stella McCartney-designed British Olympic kit.

Minichiello dismissed the criticism, saying it was typical of distractions to Ennis’s preparations that he was trying to filter out.

“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,” he told The Guardian. “It’s a lot of background noise that you can get easily distracted by.

“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.”

Minichiello conceded Ennis’s celebrity status represented another distraction.

“The difference is that she’s now a ‘personality’,” he said. “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.”

UK Athletics declined to speak to the Guardian on Thursday night.

Eurosport

Article source: http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/25052012/58/ennis-labelled-fat-uk-athletics.html

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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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