"The National Lottery has had a huge input into my career, funding both my training facilities and medical cover and has undoubtedly helped me to recover from my foot injury last year. Thank you to everyone that plays the National Lottery because your contributions help to fund not just athletics, but a number of sports and cultural activities across the country."

Since Dame Mary Peters won Olympic pentathlon gold in Munich in 1972, the British team has achieved remarkable success at multi-eventing with Daley Thompson's double Decathlon gold in Moscow in 1980 and Los Angeles in 1984 and Denise Lewis' Heptathlon triumph in Sydney in 2000.

In spectacular style Ennis joined that elite list by becoming the first British woman to win the World Championship Heptathlon gold medal with a thrilling performance in Berlin last summer.

Having established a foundation for this success with her bronze at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne in 2006 and fourth place at the World Championships in Osaka 12 months later, Ennis took her career to a new level. Injury ruled her out of the Olympics in Beijing but she has now become Britain's leading hope for a track and field gold in 2012.

She was third in the BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards in December and this year she beat America's World 60m hurdles champion Lolo Jones in Glasgow, breaking the British record with a run of 7.95.