Super Saturday hero Jessica Ennis-Hill hoping to achieve perfect Olympic send-off at Rio 2016

The date, 4 August 2012 will forever be rightly etched into the annals of Britain's sporting history. Better known as "Super Saturday", it was a truly unforgettable occasion that saw hosts Great Britain enjoy their most successful Olympic haul of six gold medals. Beginning in the morning at Eton Dorney with rowing success in the men's coxless four and women's lightweight double sculls, mixed with the heartbreak of silver for Mark Hunter and Zac Purchase, the feelgood factor later moved to the Velodrome where track cyclists Dani King, Laura Trott and Joanna Rowsell claimed victory in the team pursuit.

While these initial triumphs should certainly not be understated, Super Saturday will always be most fondly remembered for a breathtaking evening of athletics in Stratford that saw three golds won by home favourites in the space of just 44 minutes.

Rounded off by Mo Farah's incredible effort in the 10,000m and continued by Greg Rutherford's win over Mitchell Watt in the long jump, that memorable hour was kickstarted by Jessica Ennis-Hill storming past Tatyana Chernova on the final straight of the 800m to put the finishing touches to her pursuit of heptathlon glory. A final tally of 6,955 points from the seven events was testament to her dominance.

For the affable Sheffield native, such a tremendous achievement in front of an adoring London crowd was particularly satisfying given that injury had cruelly denied her an Olympic debut in Beijing four years earlier. One of Team GB's genuine medal hopes in the wake of a fourth-place finish at the 2007 World Championships and bronze at the 2006 Commonwealth Games, she aggravated an injury at the Hypo-Meeting in Gotzis and was later sadly ruled out of contention due to a stress fracture of the right ankle.

Following that fabled night in the capital, Ennis-Hill, a world champion in 2009 and a silver medallist in 2011 as well as a former indoor and European title-holder, was absent from competitive athletics for almost two years from the summer of 2013 owing to the arrival of her first child Reggie and persistent achilles problems. Her first return to the heptathlon in Gotzis saw her officially book a place in Rio by surpassing the 6200-point qualifying mark and she later decided to make herself available for the 2015 Worlds after recording season's best times at the Anniversary Games in the 100m hurdles, 200m and long jump.

Having previously suffered the heartache of missing out on Beijing, her belated arrival at the Bird's Nest was quite astounding and comprehensively banished any lingering concerns over a potential decline. Defying her three-year absence from major competition and having given birth only 13 months earlier, the 30-year-old, who subsequently revealed that she and long-time coach Toni Minichiello were targeting a bronze or silver at best, sealed a sensational comeback by beating Canada's Brianne Theisen-Eaton to gold.

The dominant narrative surrounding the women's heptathlon in Rio will undoubtedly lean heavily upon Ennis-Hill's competition with young compatriot Katarina Johnson-Thompson. The latter suffered an embarrassing episode in China when she repeatedly overstepped the long jump line to throw away any chance of a medal, but is motivated to banish those bad memories on the biggest sporting stage after beating both her key rival and Shara Proctor with a leap of 6.84m in London last weekend.

Ennis-Hill finished a disappointing seventh in that event, but did run a second-fastest time of 12.76secs in her 100m hurdles heat before being left trailing in the wake of world-record breaker Kendra Harrison in the final.

Ennis-Hill has already made it crystal clear that Rio will be her final Games and her final retirement could come as early as this year. Fans of British athletics will be desperate to see her Olympic career finish with a flourish and a successful defence of that heptathlon title. It is no less than her endless determination, insatiable work ethic and unwavering determination deserves.