Kluft Predicts Greatness For Ennis

Carolina Kluft, one of the world’s greatest ever female athletes, and a woman who dominated the heptathlon until she retired from the event last year, has heaped praise on Britain’s new world champion, Jessica Ennis, and predicted a period of world domination for the heptathlete.

Kluft, who beat Ennis into 4th place at the world championships in Osaka in 2007, her third successive world title to accompany her 2004 Olympic title, plus World Indoor, European Outdoor and Indoor titles, withdrew from the heptathlon last year to focus on the long jump and triple jump, but a serious hamstring injury forced her to sit at home in Sweden to watch the World Championships in Berlin on television.

It meant she could observe Ennis from the start of her heptathlon to the finish, and what she saw did not surprise. “It was a great performance from Jessica but what’s more exciting is that she’s got plenty more in the tank and I think we’ll be seeing this over the next few years,” she said. “I believe she can achieve more than I did in terms of my European record and my titles.”

Now that’s saying something considering the Swede possessed every global and continental title going at the same time but Kluft saw something in Ennis two years ago when the Sheffield girl just missed out on a world championship medal after a poor shot putt scuppered her chances.

“I just felt she could be the one to take over from me, even in 2007,” Kluft explained. “She’s a really nice girl and seems so secure in herself. She’s got it. I could see this two years’ ago. To be a champion in the heptathlon means that she cannot have any bad event, and although the shot let her down in Osaka, she’s put that straight since. What was so good about her performance in Berlin was that she was so consistent. When she was under pressure, having produced two poor shot putts, she had the mental strength to deal with it and throw a personal best with her last effort. That was the mark of a true champion.

“In many ways she is quite similar to me. I was consistent, and I had two good events to start the competition, just like Jessica. It makes you the immediate leader, which means everyone’s chasing you but, although that’s a mental challenge in itself, it’s much better than having to catch up.

“I also think being forced to miss 2008 and the Olympics in Beijing through injury  has made her so determined now to succeed because it made her realise how much she wanted it. The heptathlon is a tough event, and she will need to work hard on preventing injury, but she is still young and I cannot see any reason why Jessica cannot go on to become European champion next year, defend her world title in 2011, and then become Olympic champion at home in Britain in 2012.”

Ennis was taken aback when Sportsmail revealed Kluft’s verdict. “That’s absolutely amazing,” was her response. “It’s great to hear Carolina say such nice things about me because she dominated the heptathlon for so long and was, and is, someone I look up to.”
But does she share Kluft’s belief in her? “Well, I see this as the start, not the finish,” Ennis explained. “It’s not job done at all. I want to use Berlin as the springboard for winning at least medals at all major championships from now and, of course, I’m aiming for gold.
“This is especially the case for the London 2012 Olympics. That’s the heptathlon event I want to dominate in front of a home crowd and as soon as I’ve enjoyed a two-week holiday with my boyfriend, Andy, I’ll be back training more motivated than ever.

“There’s a lot of work to do if I am to keep on raising the bar and I’ve got a lot of targets, starting with Denise Lewis’s British record. I believe that’s in my sights now. In Berlin, although it was my best ever points total, it was a very consistent performance without any fantastic individual events. I only recorded one personal best, in the shot putt, and there’s still plenty of work to do with the shot and the long jump in particular.”

So, rather like the England Ashes heroes, Ennis has few plans to gorge on all the fruits of her labours. She is due to present an award at the Mobo’s in London next month, and will enjoy a public celebration in Sheffield laid on by the council in the city’s Peace Gardens, but that is all.

“If I am to compete in both the European Championships and the Commonwealth Games next year then I face a long season and plenty of training to be done before then,” she predicted. “I saw what Usain Bolt did in Berlin, and that was follow up what he achieved at the Beijing Olympics. I’ve now got to prove that I can win again and again.”

Just like Kluft.