LONDON (AP) — Jessica Ennis won the Olympic heptathlon gold medal on Saturday, the first for Britain on the track.
Ennis started with a record in the hurdles and finished it off almost 36 hours later with an 800-meter run that was more like two victory laps of the packed, 80,000-seat Olympic Stadium.
Ennis went into the last of her seven events with a lead of 188 points over Austra Skujyte of Lithuania and extended her margin by winning the last race in 2 minutes, 8.65 seconds.
She posted a total of 6,955 points, a British record. World champion Tatyana Chernova, a strong second-day performer, took silver with 6,628 points, and Lyudmyla Yosypenko of Ukraine was third with 6,618.
The capacity crowd went wild as Ennis collapsed over the line. She sobbed at the end, then carried a Union flag around the track.