Home city honours golden girl Ennis (From Enfield Independent)

Home city honours golden girl Ennis

7:25am Friday 17th August 2012 in National Sport © Press Association 2013

Olympic golden girl Jessica Ennis is to unveil her new plaque on Sheffield's Hollywood-style Walk of Fame when she returns to her home city.

The heptathlon champion and gold medallist, 26, will be honoured at a civic reception in Barkers Pool in the city centre.

She will reveal the tribute, which will have been given a golden hue, on an outdoor stage before it is set into the pavement.

Ennis's name was initially added to the walk - which resembles the famous Walk of Fame tourist attraction on Hollywood Boulevard - last year.

It sits alongside those of other Sheffield stars including actor Sean Bean, singer Joe Cocker and athlete-turned Games organiser Sebastian Coe.

Crowds have been asked to wear gold, nearby trees and lamp posts will be draped in the same colour and Sheffield Lord Mayor Councillor John Campbell will officially welcome the Olympian home.

Mr Campbell said: "Jessica is a true superstar and we want to give her a massive Sheffield welcome home. She has done her home city proud. She is such a great ambassador for Sheffield and we are so proud of her.

"Jessica has stayed strong to her Sheffield roots by being educated here through school and university, training here and seeing Sheffield as her home. She has risen to the occasion and now is the time for the city to rise to her."

A private reception for Jessica and her family will then take place in the city hall.

Ennis has said she is looking forward to coming home. "Winning the Olympics in Britain has exceeded everything I could have ever wished for - I am still in a state of disbelief!" she said. "Being Olympic champion is the best feeling ever and as an athlete the ultimate achievement. I have to say a big thank you to both the people of Sheffield who have believed in me and backed me over the years and to the people who were there in the stadium in London who really lifted me every step of the way."