Jessica Ennis

Things have changed so much, with Facebook and Twitter. Everyone is so much more accessible these days: no British athlete has ever experienced what we are experiencing now. It's such a unique situation with the home Olympics.

There was a massive poster of me down my road, right outside the chip shop. I was about to go in, but then I saw it and changed my mind. Me coming out with a bag of chips, while I'm up there doing crunches on the poster... well, it would not look good.

This celebration here tells me that this work is not hopeless. I thank you for this teaching with all my heart and lift my glass to human solidarity, to the ultimate victory of knowledge, peace, good-will and understanding.