Updated

Jessica Ennis of Great Britain officially claimed gold in the heptathlon Saturday at the London Games, completing a dominating performance with a first-place finish in the 800 meters.

Ennis held a 188-point lead over Austra Skujyte of Lithuania heading into the final race and left little doubt by taking the early lead in the 800 before gutting it out for the win. Ennis finished the race in 2 minutes, 8.65 seconds, and just before crossing the finish line she raised her arms in celebration of the overall win.

"The crowd helped me and I can't believe I've done it," said Ennis.

Ennis' final point total of 6,955 is the third-highest in Olympic history, trailing Jackie Joyner-Kersee's marks from the 1988 and 1992 Summer Games.

Tatyana Chernova of Russia was 327 points behind Ennis for silver, while Lyudmyla Yosypenko won bronze with 6,618 points.

Meanwhile, Skujyte, the silver medalist in this event eight years ago in Athens, finished eighth in the 800, nearly 22 seconds slower than Ennis. She wound up placing fourth in the overall competition.

Ennis was in first place after six of the seven events and even set a heptathlon world record in the 100m hurdles.

American Hyleas Fountain, silver medalist in Beijing, was in 27th place after six events and was a DNF after failing to participate in the 800.

Sharon Day had the best result for the U.S., finishing 15th, while Canada's Jessica Zelinka was sixth.