VIDEO: Sheffield’s Ennis-Hill is Games sofa fan

Olympics star Jessica Ennis-Hill said she will settle for watching the Commonwealth Games on television as she prepares for motherhood.
Olympic gold medalist  Jessica Ennis-Hill (left) and Commonwealth silver medalist, Eilidh Child during the photocall at Hampden Park, Glasgow.Photo: Andrew Milligan/PA Wire.Olympic gold medalist  Jessica Ennis-Hill (left) and Commonwealth silver medalist, Eilidh Child during the photocall at Hampden Park, Glasgow.Photo: Andrew Milligan/PA Wire.
Olympic gold medalist Jessica Ennis-Hill (left) and Commonwealth silver medalist, Eilidh Child during the photocall at Hampden Park, Glasgow.Photo: Andrew Milligan/PA Wire.

The 28-year-old will support her fellow athletes from the sofa come July, but admits that she will be rather preoccupied with the arrival of her first child with husband Andy, due the same month.

Ennis-Hill, who took gold in the heptathlon in London 2012, said: “I will be supporting but I will be at home, probably very tired and not knowing what’s going on in the world, to be honest.

“I’m sad to be missing it this year but very much looking forward to supporting the team.”

Olympic gold medalist  Jessica Ennis-Hill (left) and Commonwealth silver medalist, Eilidh Child during the photocall at Hampden Park, Glasgow.Photo: Andrew Milligan/PA Wire.Olympic gold medalist  Jessica Ennis-Hill (left) and Commonwealth silver medalist, Eilidh Child during the photocall at Hampden Park, Glasgow.Photo: Andrew Milligan/PA Wire.
Olympic gold medalist Jessica Ennis-Hill (left) and Commonwealth silver medalist, Eilidh Child during the photocall at Hampden Park, Glasgow.Photo: Andrew Milligan/PA Wire.

The champion from Sheffield announced in January that her plans for 2014 had been “completely turned upside down” with the news of her pregnancy and she would not be competing at Glasgow 2014.

She said that her and Andy were overwhelmed and excited about becoming parents, with a touch of anxiety.

Sheffield’s golden girl was speaking as she joined champion hurdler Eilidh Child to become the first athletes to view the new track, which sits on steel stilts at Hampden Park.

Ennis-Hill, the Glasgow 2014 ambassador appeared relaxed, though is still getting used to her scaled-down exercise regime.

She said: “I feel really well at the moment. I’ve been well the whole way through, so I’ve just been enjoying it.

“I’m in a very different situation now. I’m still keeping fit and I’m training but when I go to the track to do a bike session or whatever, I’m not there pushing myself.

“It’s a very strange feeling - normally I go down and I’m breaking my body to bits and training really hard, whereas now I have to hold back a lot.”

The mother-to-be has already expressed her intention to defend her Olympic win in two years’ time.

She said in January: “I am 100% set on returning to full-time athletics once our baby is born and go for a second gold medal at the Rio Olympics in 2016 - that challenge really excites me.”

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