Jessican Ennis-Hill 'truly honoured' to receive damehood in New Year honours

The honour comes just two months after the London 2012 Olympic heptathlon champion announced her retirement from athletics.

Ennis-Hill retweeted Team GB's announcement of the honour's list and said: "What a team to have been apart of. Dame...truly truly honoured!"

Having taken time out to have son Reggie, the 30-year-old added Olympic silver to her collection earlier this summer in Rio, after she finished just 35 points behind Belgium's Nafissatou Thiam.

Ennis-Hill also recently won her third world title after retirement when Tatyana Chernova's results from 2011 were annulled for doping offences.

When announcing her retirement, Ennis-Hill said she would be able look back on a career of "amazing memories", although admitted walking away was "one of the toughest decisions I've had to make."

In her October statement on her Instagram account, Ennis-Hill said: "I know that retiring now is right. I've always said I want to leave my sport on a high and have no regrets and I can truly say that."

Ennis-Hill's senior breakthrough came in 2006 when she won bronze at her only Commonwealth Games - finishing behind winner and team-mate Kelly Sotherton - before she won gold at the 2010 European Championships and also landed the World Indoor Pentathlon title the same year.

The victories were part of her dominance of the sport from 2009 on to glory at London 2012.

At the 2012 Games, Ennis-Hill won the 100 metres hurdles before coming sixth in high jump and 10th in shot put.

A personal best of 22.83 seconds saw her second in the 200 metres and Ennis-Hill was also second in the long jump before throwing 47.49m, a personal best, in the javelin to finish 10th and stand on the brink of the title.

She completed victory with a season's best of two minutes and eight seconds in the 800m to win the race and the title on what became known as 'Super Saturday', which also saw Mo Farah claim the 10,000m and Greg Rutherford take the long jump crown inside the Olympic Stadium.

Ennis-Hill received the CBE from the Queen in the 2013 New Year Honours.

Toni Minichiello, who has coached Ennis-Hill throughout her career, said following her decision to call it a day: ''Many sports people hold on too long.

''Jess has managed to avoid walking out of the stadium after failing a qualifying round. She's walking out of the stadium by stepping off the podium."