Charles van Commenee denies calling Jessica Ennis 'fat'

London, June 1 (ANI): Track and field athlete Jessica Ennis received a phone call from Charles van Commenee, with the UK Athletics chief denying that he was the one who dubbed her "fat".

The 26-year-old broke Denise Lewis' 12-year-old British heptathlon record in Austria last Sunday, with a personal best of 6,906 points.

Her performance was all the more impressive considering it came just days after it emerged a high-ranking UK Athletics official had branded her "too fata .

"I guarantee I've never called Jessica fat, simply because there is no reason for it," the Sun quoted Commenee as speaking in Rome ahead of Wednesday's Diamond League meeting.

"What other people may have said, I have no clue.

"I spoke to Jessica on Wednesday about this. She is totally OK with it and for her there is no issue. There is no issue for me either.

"Every so often, you go through a checklist with athletes to ask if there is any area for improvement.

"In that light, athletes are approached critically but appropriately, so I expect UK Athletics employees, including myself, to use appropriate language.

"Any use of the word 'fat' is inappropriate. People in senior positions have a duty of care to young female athletes," he said.

The original allegations were made by Sheffield-born Ennis's long-standing coach Toni Minichiello.

But Van Commenee has stopped short of holding an internal inquiry to find out who made the negative comments.

"I was surprised to read about it because Toni had not mentioned anything to me. I will speak to Toni at some point," he said.

Ennis, meanwhile, has laughed off suggestions that she is at war with her weight.

"It's something that's been blown out of proportion a bit. I'm obviously very happy with my weight," she said.

"As an athlete you want to be in great shape, you want to perform as well as you can and that's something that I've been doing, so I'm quite happy.

"This year is a big year and things get blown out of proportion," she added. (ANI)