Jessica Ennis laughs off 'fat' suggestions

Olympic hopeful Jessica Ennis today laughed off suggestions that she was "fat".

The word is supposed to have been used about the heptathlete by a senior figure at UK Athletics, but Ennis told ITV1's Daybreak: "I think it's something that's been blown out of proportion a bit, I'm obviously very happy with my weight. As an athlete you want to be in great shape, you want to perform as well as you can, and that's something that I've been doing, so I think I'm quite happy."

She added: "This year is a big year, and things do get blown out of proportion."

Asked if using such a term should be made a "hate crime", as with remarks about race or homophobia, she said: "I think it's very difficult ... you can't change your colour and your sexuality, but weight is something that you work on as an athlete, you have to mould your body, to get the most out of your performance, so for us it's about making sure we are the best shape we can be, to get the most out of our performances on the track."

The 26-year-old from Sheffield is in good form, having broken the British record on Sunday. Her points total of 6,906 at the Hypo event in Austria beat the old British best of 6,831 which was set by Denise Lewis in 2000.

PA