• London Olympics 2012

Ennis critical of 'inconsistent' Olympic rivals

Jessica Ennis could only manage silver medals at last year's World Championships and this year's World Indoor Championships © Getty Images

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Jessica Ennis has claimed that major heptathlon rival Tatyana Chernova can "fall apart" if things are not going her way in competition.

Chernova's performance at the World Championships in Daegu last year forced Ennis, who was made to pay for a disappointing javelin performance, to settle for a silver medal.

But ahead of the Olympic Games, Ennis seems more wary of the threat posed by this year's World Indoor Championship gold medallist Nataliya Dobrynska.

"The thing about Chernova is that if she gets everything right, she can produce an amazing score," Ennis told the Guardian.

"But if things go not quite so well in one event it can spill over into the next one and she kind of falls apart. Dobrynska is obviously older and more experienced. She tends to peak in an Olympic year. They both suffer from inconsistency at major tournaments - definitely."

Meanwhile, Ennis has admitted she feels the public do not understand that Olympic gold is far from a foregone conclusion.

"It's going to be a massive ask," Ennis said. "People think the gold medal is yours and they say you're going to win - but they have no idea how hard it is.

"People aren't doing it negatively - they're mostly lovely and they really do want you to win - but they don't understand the difficulty and intensity of competition. It's happening such a lot now, because people in the street are saying, 'You're gonna win, Jess, you're gonna get that gold medal!' They're well meant but what people say or tweet to me I just have to put to one side."

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