Foster also believes she will have a future role to play in athletics.
“The sport will be foolish not to keep her on at some level, she is a huge asset,” he said.
“She has been up, she’s been down, she has won, she’s lost, but at every point she has conducted herself magnificently.
“Everyone says she is a great role model for women – and she is – but she has been a role model for men, too. To look at her, she is so tiny standing next to many international athletes, but inside that smiling exterior she has internal steel. Male and female athletes think the world of her.”
Ennis-Hill’s coach Toni Minichiello said she was “one of our sporting greats”, and the manner of her retirement – “walking out of the stadium by stepping off the podium” – was “fitting”.
“We’ve known for a long time this day was coming. Many sports people hold on too long,” he added., external
“Despite all the fame and money she’s never forgotten where she’s come from – most of her friends she’s had from school days. She’s humble, she grafts, she pushes herself hard and she never gives up.”
British Athletics described her record as an athlete as “phenomenal”, adding: “And that’s without considering the challenges of returning from pregnancy to win world gold and Olympic silver.”
Retirement means she will not return to the stadium where she won Olympic gold for the World Championships in London in August 2017.
