Move aside Jesse. Now there is a Jessica to be added to the roll of honour at Berlin's historic Olympic stadium after the woman who feared her career might be over a year ago gave Britain a golden start to the World Championships.
Jessica Ennis, who cried for five days when she was diagnosed with multiple stress fractures in her right foot 15 months ago and told she was out of the Beijing Olympics, was a picture of joy last night after clinching the country's first ever heptathlon world title.
What is more, she did it with 238 points to spare - the third biggest winning margin in World Championship history. A new star of British athletics has been born.
The 23 year-old of Sheffield arrived in Germany as the No 1 ranked athlete following her return to competitive action in early May but not even she could have dreamed of such a dominant performance as she finished the competition on 6,731 points - 144 more than she had ever managed before.
Her rivals, including last year's Olympic champion and bronze medalist, were quite simply blown away by her all-round repertoire of running, jumping and throwing that has few weaknesses.
Leading by a huge 307-point margin overnight from Ukraine's Olympic gold medallist, Nataliya Dobrynska, Ennis said she had tried to banish of all thoughts of the gold medal until it was hanging around her neck. Not easy when you have been wearing a bib bearing the world "Leading" for the last couple of days.
"The thought kept creeping into my head but I just tried to focus on one event at a time," she said.
In truth, her advantage after the opening day was so huge that only an injury or a catastrophe in one of the three remaining events stood between her and the top tier of the podium.
The sight of her icing her right knee during Sunday morning's long-jump competition caused hearts to flutter, but it proved a false alarm. "I was just trying to cool down," she later revealed.
A long jump of 6.29m also helped steady any early second-day nerves. It might have been slightly down on her personal best but it was still a good enough effort for someone who had to go back to the drawing board in the winter and switch her take-off from her right to her left foot to reduce future wear and tear on her injured foot.
Most importantly, Dobrynska, a stronger long-jumper on paper, managed only 12cm further, taking just 38 points out of Ennis's lead in an event she needed to dominate if she was to have any hope of catching the Briton.
A leap of 6.42m by Germany's Jennifer Oeser brought her level with the Ukrainian in second place, but still a daunting 269 points behind Ennis.
Ennis's improved throwing ability has been a key feature of her rise to the top of the world rankings this season - a testament to the tough weights regime to which she subjected herself during her enforced immobility as her broken foot healed.
Her reward came with a first-round javelin effort of 43.54m, the third longest throw of her career, which ensured there would no twist in the tale.
Poland's Kamila Chudzik, a javelin specialist, did make a move with a throw of 48.72m, moving into second position overall, but Ennis still enjoyed a 171-point lead going into the final event, the 800m.
It was a cushion she did not even need. Ennis admits the two-lap race is the event she dreads most at the end of two days' competition, though the prize of a gold medal was all the incentive she needed to summon one last, final effort.
She led from the front and crossed the first in 2min 12.22sec before sinking to the track in triumphant exhaustion. Oeser gave the home crowd something to celebrate with a strong run to claim the silver medal while Chudzik held onto third. Dobrynska was a well beaten fourth.
Ennis's winning total took her to second on the all-time UK list behind Denise Lewis, whose British and Commonwealth record of 6,831 points will surely be the next target within Ennis's sights.
Already, she has a title that Lewis was never able to achieve. Although Lewis won Olympic gold in Sydney in 2000, she had to settle for silver at the World Championships in 1997 and 1999.
Her triumph also ensures her star status in the build-up to the London Olympics, where her good looks and engaging personality will make her one of the most marketable properties in the British team.
With age on her side, she also has the opportunity to rule her event in the way Sweden's Carolina Kluft reigned over her rivals for five unbeaten years until she retired from multi-events competition last year.
For Ennis, the world crown may seem the end of a long, hard journey from those dark days last year when she feared her foot injury would spell the end of her career. But it could be just the beginning.
Seven steps to glory
100m hurdles:12.93sec
High jump: 1.92 metres
Shot put: 14.14m (PB)
200 metres: 23.25sec
Long jump: 6.29 metres
Javelin: 43.54 metres
800m: 2min12.22sec
Total points: 6,731
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