Barcelona gold rush as Ennis leads GB to record

JESSICA Ennis admits Great Britain's gold rush gave rise to some butterflies in her stomach – but in adding the European crown to her illustrious CV she took to the challenge like a moth to a flame.

The 24-year-old appeared to have ice running through her veins in Barcelona as she held a fierce challenge at bay from reigning Olympic champion Nataliya Dobrynska to bag Great Britain's fifth gold medal of the Championships.

But Ennis, who has been crowned the world outdoor, indoor and European champion all in the last 12 months, has revealed Great Britain's success story heightened the burgeoning weight of expectation on her shoulders – and it was the fear of failure that catapulted her to gold.

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"With everyone doing so well and winning so many medals I was just thinking I didn't want to let anyone down. There was pressure from all different directions," said Ennis.

"You just have to block it out and get on with it. The championship record is a great record to have. I'm sure (previous holder) Carolina Kluft won't mind too much she's lovely.

"I'm so tired but also so happy and relieved that it all came together, I wanted to keep focused and that's what I did and thankfully I won.

"It's quite surreal now to think about how I began this year it's unbelievable – I'm so happy, so tired and so really pleased with the whole year."

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Ennis arrived in Barcelona as a supposed certainty for gold. Great Britain's pin-up girl has had the Midas touch in the last 12 months – everything she lays her hands on has turned to gold.

But being easy on the eye and her unquestioned dominance in heptathlon circles has seen the spotlight transfixed on Ennis since her World Championship heroics last August – already she's the bookies' favourite for London 2012 gold.

UKA head coach Charles van Commenee is never one to mince his words and while UK Sport – the government body responsible for the distribution of elite funding to athletes – gave Great Britain a target of 10 to 15 medals, the Dutchman went a step further and stated he wanted eight to be gold.

He also publicly announced anything less than gold for Ennis would be a disappointment, shortly after making the City of Sheffield star captain of his Great Britain team.

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Ennis therefore had a sizeable cross to bear in Barcelona and with Mo Farah taking 10,000m gold, Dai Greene securing 400m hurdles victory, Phillips Idowu European gold to his world title and Andy Turner upgrading his 2006 bronze to gold, all before she took to the track, the pressure was piling up.

On top of that, Dobrynska rekindled the form that saw her top the podium at Beijing 2008 – when Ennis was laid up with a broken foot – and the Brit only took a 110-point advantage into the second day despite winning three of the four events.

No doubt a sleepless night ensued for Ennis and Dobrynska further turned the screw after the long jump, carving another chunk out of the gap – Britain's golden girl led by just 68 with two events to go.

Ennis responded with a personal best in the javelin but Dobrynska refused to let up and slimmed the lead to just 18 points – which equated to 1.2 seconds – ahead of the 800m.

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And Ennis was given a real scare when Dobrynkska outflanked her with 200m – only to respond in lung-busting fashion to take gold with a championship record points total of 6823 – just eight shy of former Olympic champion Denise Lewis's 10-year-old British record.

And after soaking up all Dobrynksa threw at her, Ennis insists she has proved she has the stomach for a fight.

"It was really tough, completely different to last year and I'm happy to have handled the pressure and come out on top," added Ennis, who finished with 92 more points than in Berlin last year. "Berlin was a lot of pressure because I was coming back from injury but this year I was pushed all the way.

"At any point it could have completely changed. At any point I could have lost the gold medal so it was a big challenge

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"There was a lot of pressure because the girls were performing so well and I've been pushed all the way. I had to raise my game at every level on both days so to come out on top is unbelievable."

Ennis is get used wrapping herself in a Union Jack and saying 'cheese' but as she embarked on another lap of honour – with a phalanx of photographers in hot pursuit, Farah was busy returning to the track to complete a historic double and collect 5,000m silver.

Farah's medal also took Great Britain's medal haul to 16 and surpassed UK Sport's target before silver and bronze in the men's and women's 4x400m relays on Sunday – and Chris Tomlinson's long jump bronze – saw van Commenee's troops finish with 19 medals.

That eclipses the previous biggest haul for Great Britain of 18, achieved in 1990 in Split, Yugoslavia.

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