Toni Minichiello
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Antonio 'Toni' Minichiello (born 1966) is an athletics commentator and former coach. He was coach to British athletics champion
Jessica Ennis-Hill Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill (née Ennis; born 28 January 1986) is a British retired athlete who specialised in the heptathlon and 100 metres hurdles. As a competitor in heptathlon, she is the 2012 Olympic champion, a three-time world champion (2 ...
until her retirement. The pair met at the Don Valley athletics stadium when Ennis was at a summer holiday camp as a teenager. Since then Ennis has gone on to win numerous athletic medals, including the gold medal at the
London 2012 Olympic Games The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
. Minichiello was born in
Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...
to Italian parents who were originally from
Avellino Avellino () is a city and ''comune'', capital of the province of Avellino in the Campania region of southern Italy. It is situated in a plain surrounded by mountains east of Naples and is an important hub on the road from Salerno to Benevento. ...
, near
Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...
. They had originally met and married in
Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population was 106,940. Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire and seat of the Borough of Bedford local government district. Bedford was founded at a ford (crossin ...
before moving to Sheffield, where Minichiello's father was a steelworker. Toni Minichiello was formerly married to bobsledder Nicola Minichiello. Minichiello coached Jessica Ennis from the age of 13.


Awards

Minichiello won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Coach Award in 2012 after guiding Ennis to Olympic gold in the
Heptathlon A heptathlon is a track and field combined events contest made up of seven events. The name derives from the Greek ἑπτά (hepta, meaning "seven") and ἄθλος (áthlos, or ἄθλον, áthlon, meaning "competition"). A competitor in a hep ...
at the
London 2012 Olympic games The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
. He also won the Coach of the Year at the UK Coaching Awards.


Lifetime ban

On 9 August 2022,
UK Athletics UK Athletics (UKA) is the governing body for the sport of athletics (sport), athletics in the United Kingdom. It is responsible for overseeing the governance of athletics events in the UK as well as athletes, their development, and athletics o ...
announced that Minichiello had been banned for life from training athletes due to sexually inappropriate behaviour, emotional abuse and bullying. An investigation had been launched after complaints were received from multiple female athletes and coaches.


References

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2013/dec/04/jessica-ennis-hill-coach-toni-minichiello-british-athletics https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/other-sports/athletics/jessica-ennis-hill-coach-toni-minichiello-2890055 Living people 1966 births British athletics coaches English people of Italian descent Sportspeople from Sheffield {{UK-athletics-bio-stub