Transcript
TONY:
Bar Kelly Sotherton, really, everybody's here, but I think Jess can hold her own amongst those people.
[BANG]
[CHEERING]
NARRATOR:
In the 100-metre hurdle, she gets off to a good start, finishing second overall.
ANNOUNCER:
--Jessica Ennis.
NARRATOR:
In her weakest event, the shot put, she has a chance to see if her training has been working. If she manages to throw more than 13 metres, it would mean that an Olympic medal could become a reality.
Tony:
Well, that went well. Three throws beyond her personal best.
JESS ENNIS
I knew that I could throw the 13, but I didn't think I'd throw 13.50, so ah! I'm happy.
NARRATOR:
It's a fantastic result for Jess and keeps her near the top of the leaderboard. The high jump is one of Jess's strongest events and where she expects to pick up a lot of points.
[CLAPPING]
[SIGHING]
TONY:
Let's stay up. And let's run it, come on.
[APPLAUSE]
NARRATOR:
But it's not going to plan. Jess is feeling some pain in her ankle. To try and help her continue, the physios treat her ankle straight away, while the competition carries on.
JESS ENNIS:
I just didn't have the spring and the take-off, like I normally do in the high jump. Every time I put my foot down, it was just sore.
[CLAPPING]
JESS ENNIS:
I tried to run again. It just-- it was so sore.
TONY:
Jess, Jess, Jess, Jess, leave it. Leave it. Leave it. Leave it. Leave it. Step back from it.
JESS ENNIS:
I stopped and went off and got some more treatment.
TONY:
She'll be fine, she'll be fine. She'll be fine.
NARRATOR:
The final event of the day is the 200 metres, which would put her painful ankle under a lot of pressure.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[BANG]
JESS ENNIS:
I couldn't really feel the pain, but it just didn't feel like my natural running pattern. It felt like-- coming up the homestretch, it felt like I was going backwards. I crossed the line, and I just-- literally, I couldn't walk properly on it. I was thinking, this is really bad.
[APPLAUSE]
PHYSIO:
So just walk slowly and as natural as you can.
NARRATOR:
It's clear to Jess she won't be able to finish the competition.
TONY:
If we go in there, we'll do it in the changing rooms. Can we do it in the changing rooms?
NARRATOR:
Tony calls an emergency press conference. Until they know exactly what's wrong, he wants to play down his concerns.
TONY:
The reason for withdrawal is there is a little bit of joint, ankle-- a bit of soreness, really. And I think with only 75 days left until the Olympics, we've probably seen enough, in terms of her competition ability. And I think the common sense thing is to back off.
REPORTER
You have no fear? Just fine? And you have no fears? Jessica won't be in--
TONY:
No.
REPORTER:
--Beijing
Tony:
No. Sorry, your question was, I've no fear that she'll be in Beijing?
REPORTER:
[INAUDIBLE]
TONY:
No, none whatsoever. None whatsoever
[MUSIC PLAYING]
JESS ENNIS:
I just felt like this, and I was crying. It was just-- it was awful. I didn't know what was going on. I just wanted to get the scan and find out what was happening.
TRAINER:
Nobody's coming. They're not coming. Can you feel it?
PHYSIO:
You don't put any of the weight on the minimally. You're just using--
NARRATOR:
With 10 weeks until the Olympics, learning to use crutches was not the kind of training Jess was hoping for.
JESS ENNIS:
I was just really overwhelmed with the whole situation and the fact that I was going to have to pull out. I trained so hard through the winter. I just felt like, oh, I've done all this work for nothing.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
JESS ENNIS:
I probably expected them to say something like I bruised a bone because there's a lot of bones in your ankle and foot, and it wasn't that bad.
NARRATOR:
Anything more serious would mean that she'd lose too much training time, leaving her way behind the rest of the field.
[SCANNER WHIRRING]
NARRATOR:
Jess has been dreaming of competing at the Olympics since she was 12. For the last year and a half, she's been training six days a week, knowing that she had a chance of getting to the Olympic podium.
[KNOCKING]
[DOOR CREAKS OPEN]
DOCTOR:
I think we're going to do this one.
CAMERAMAN:
Do you want me to leave?
DOCTOR:
Yeah.
CAMERAMAN:
OK. OK.
JESS ENNIS:
Thanks.
NARRATOR:
The scans have revealed Jess's worst nightmare.
JESS ENNIS:
There and then, I was told that I've got three stress fractures and that you won't be going to the games. I couldn't believe it. I just felt really numb. So I was just-- I didn't know what to say. I just cried. It was horrible.
Any other time, it would have been disappointing in Britain. But because it's the Olympics, so close to the Olympics, it just intensifies everything and makes it 10 times worse.
[MUSIC PLAYING]