British Olympian Jessica Ennis

Jessica Ennis

From The London Evening Standard, "Put your Games face on...Female athletes who are tough enough to get to an Olympic final want to maximise their advantages — and that includes make-up, says Karen Dacre," on 7 August 2012, by Karen Dacre, Fashion Editor -- When Jessica Ennis strode across the finish line on Saturday night, every woman in the country stopped to stare. Inspired by her gargantuan achievement — Team GB’s first London 2012 athletics gold medallist is also the most successful female heptathlete the country has ever known — and awed by her mind-blowing physical form, we cheered and wept from the sanctity of our living rooms as Jess brought home the gold for every single one of us.

Her battle armoury — thighs of steels, biceps of wonder and that stomach — quickly became the nation’s number one talking point, especially among female spectators.

What was less apparent to those of us watching from the sidelines was Ennis’s secret weapon: a layer of perfectly applied make-up, barely visible to you and me, which may have provided her with the extra hit of self-belief she needed to nail this race.

“It makes me feel more confident,” said the Sheffield-born 26-year-old when quizzed on her pre-race beauty regime earlier this year. “I always ensure my skin is clean and moisturised, and never leave the house without mascara and eyeliner on.”

Ennis is far from alone in her beauty routine. She shares her lucky make-up habit with team-mate Perri Shakes- Drayton, who wouldn’t dream of stepping onto the track without her favourite shade of lipgloss firmly in place. Ennis’s fellow heptathletes Katarina Johnson-Thompson and Louise Hazel are also believers in this ritual.

But it is the American track stars who play the stand-out role in this field. Stepping onto the starting blocks ahead of Sunday night’s 400m final, US sprinters DeeDee Trotter and Sanya Richards-Ross appeared better suited to an evening of dancing in Dalston than sweating it out in the Olympic stadium. Already famous for the creative use of face paint and glitter, which Trotter appropriately calls her “war paint”, the third-place finisher stepped up her game on Sunday by adding glistening Swarovski crystals to her cheekbones. Richards-Ross relied on a perfectly applied full face of make-up — and a whopping great pair of Chanel earrings — to help her stride to victory. Brit rival Christina Ohuruogu, who wore no make-up at all, was simply outdazzled.

The powers-that-be once preferred their female athletes to compete bare-faced like Ohuruogu but things have changed. The Americans were first to stamp their identity through flashes of coloured mascara, dazzling lip colours and shimmering earrings, and now London 2012 has brought with it some of the most groomed athletes we’ve ever seen.

Is this a good thing? Not everyone thinks so. Some argue it is distracting for female competitors to focus on their appearance when they should be concentrating on giving the performance of their lives, while others consider the use of make-up an unwelcome sexualisation of the sport.

But why shouldn’t Ennis, Richards-Ross and co not want to look their best ahead of such a momentous occasion? With the pressure of expectation on their shoulders and the eyes of world on their every move, is it any wonder that a layer of lipgloss can seem essential? Which of us would go bare-faced in front of a billion people?

Make-up after all, is a mask — a layer of protection. With so much of the athletics action focused on the build-up to a race that is over within the blink of an eye, having something to hide behind seems essential. While the male contingent of this sport cope with the nervous moments before the start gun sounds by bulging their biceps at the camera, showcasing a face of battle paint is, perhaps, the female alternative. It certainly worked for Trotter.

Keen to capitalise on this new-found appreciation for warpaint, cosmetics brand Max Factor recreated its own signature “sports look” on every athlete, volunteer and presenter who took part in the opening ceremony, while other beauty labels — including Olay, which benefits from having Ennis as its official face — are desperate to snare our finest female athletes for their multi-million-pound campaigns.

Talk about running the world.  (source:The London Evening Standard )