Ohuruogu at the parade in London to celebrate the achievements of British competitors at the 2008 Summer Olympics. |
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| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | 17 May 1984 London, England |
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| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Country | Great Britain | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Newham and Essex Beagles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Turned pro | 2004 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Achievements and titles | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| World finals | 2007 - 1st | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Olympic finals | 2008 - 1st, 400m | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Highest world ranking | 200 m: 11 (2008) 400 m: 2 (2007/2008) |
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| Personal best(s) | 100 m 11.35 200 m 22.85 400 m 49.61 |
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Medal record
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| Updated on 11 October 2008. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Christine Ijeoma Ohuruogu MBE (born 17 May 1984) is an English athlete, who specialises in the 400 metres; the event for which she is the current Olympic and former World and Commonwealth Champion. Her victory in the Beijing Games was the 50th gold medal for Great Britain in Athletics at the Olympics.
Ohuruogu's Personal Best of 49.61 ranks her third amongst British women 400 m runners, behind fellow Olympic medallists Kathy Cook and Katharine Merry.
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Born to Igbo Nigerian parents[1][2] in Newham, east London,[3] she was raised less than one mile from the 2012 Summer Olympics stadium in Stratford.[4] Ohuruogu studied at University College London, where she graduated in Linguistics in 2005.[5] She also played netball during her undergraduate studies. Christine has 8 siblings, one of whom is Victoria Ohuruogu, a top sprints competitor in her age group. She also went to St. Edwards Church of England School, Romford, Essex and Trinity Catholic High School, Woodford Green, Essex.
Ohuruogu is a member of Newham and Essex Beagles Athletics Club.
She was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2009 New Year Honours.[6][7]
In 2003 Ohuruogu was a bronze medallist at 400 m at the European Junior Championships. She became the AAA champion in the 400 m in 2004, was a semi-finalist in the 400 m at the Athens Olympics of 2004, also taking part in the 4 x 400 m relay team that finished 4th. In the 2005 European Under 23 Championships she took the silver medal, losing individual gold by a hundredth of a second. She also won silver in the 4 x 400 m relay.
After reaching the semi-final at the 400 m at the 2005 World Championships in Athletics she won a bronze medal in the women's 4 x 400 m relay together with Lee McConnell, Donna Fraser and Nicola Sanders.
She won a gold medal for England in the 400 m at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in a personal best time of 50.28 seconds, beating favourite Tonique Williams-Darling in both her semi-final and the final.[8]
Within 24 days of the end of her year-long competition suspension she returned to surprise the field and win the gold medal at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka. Fellow British athlete, Nicola Sanders took the silver with Novlene Williams of Jamaica in third. Ohuruogu had won all three of her individual races at the world championships - her heat, her semi-final, plus the final. The fastest woman in the world, Sanya Richards, did not qualify for the World Championships, after failing to make the United States team.
At the 2006 Commonwealth Games, Ohuruogu ran the final leg in the 4 x 400 m relay for England. On the second leg with 200 m to go until the third change-over, Jamaica were leading with Australia second and England in third. The rules are that the change over athletes are to line up in order of the position at 200 m. This would have meant that Jamaica would have the inside lane, then Australia with England third from the inside. However, between 200 m and 300 m of the second leg, Nicola Sanders of England overtook Caitlin Willis meaning coming up to the third change, the English team were second, with Australia in third place. Tasha Danvers, the English athlete changed places with the Australian, Tamsyn Lewis. On the home straight, however, Willis and Sanders ran in the 2nd and 3rd lane respectively, and had to change over to pass the baton, as they were obviously aware of the rules. The English team went on to win the race, with Ohuruogu pulling away at the end.
However after the race the Australians were awarded the gold medal as the English team had breached IAAF Rule 170 when Danvers-Smith changed position with Lewis.
(RULE 170 Relay Races9. The athletes in the third and fourth legs of the 4 x 400 m relay race shall, under the direction of a designated official, place themselves in their waiting position in the same order (inside to out) as the order of their respective team members as they complete 200 m of their legs. Once the incoming athletes have passed this point, the waiting athletes shall maintain their order, and shall not exchange positions at the beginning of the take-over zone. If an athlete does not follow this Rule, his team shall be disqualified.)
Christine Ohuruogu was suspended from competing in the 2006 European Athletics Championships. The reason for this was that she missed three out-of-competition drug tests, known as the "whereabouts" system, of the World Anti-Doping Code; one in October 2005 and two in June 2006.[9] According to IAAF and British Olympic Association rules, she received a one-year ban for missing these tests, which expired on 5 August 2007.[10]
The British Olympic Association also imposed a lifetime ban excluding Ohuruogu from competing at future Olympic Games for Great Britain.[11] She appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, but the original decision was upheld.[12] Ohuruogu submitted a further appeal, and stated that she would probably leave Britain and compete in the Olympics for another country if it was unsuccessful.[13][14] Her Olympic ban was finally overturned on 27 November 2007.
A day after her ban was finished, Ohuruogu was selected for the British team at the 2007 Athletics World Championships.[10] She had only run five competitive races before the final since her suspension; however, she managed to take the individual 400 m and secure the only gold medal for Great Britain at the Championships, while her compatriot Nicola Sanders won silver. She also took bronze in the 400 m relay.
In Beijing, Ohuruogu won her heat against Yulia Guschina who finished 0.18 seconds behind and semi-final for the 400 m women's race against Shericka Williams by 0.14 seconds, before taking the gold with a finish down the home straight, beating pre-race favourite Sanya Richards of the USA into bronze and Shericka Williams of Jamaica into silver, with a time of 49.62s. This time, over 2 seconds slower than the world record, would have achieved no higher than Bronze at each of the Olympics since 1976 (and was slower than 5th place in 1996). It was Great Britain's first - and only - track and field Olympic gold of the 2008 Games, and Ohuruogu was the first British female Olympic champion of the 400 m.[15]
In preparation for the European Indoor Championships in Turin, Ohuruogu set personal bests in the 60 metres and 200 m at the Birmingham Grand Prix.[16] She competed at the 2009 Manchester City Games, finishing second in the 150 metres final in 17.10 seconds.[17] She ran a personal best 22.85 seconds to take second place in the 200 m at the Fanny Blankers-Koen Games.[18] While she won the 400 m national title at the UKA Championships in Birmingham that July, her times and finishes over the distance at IAAF Golden League meets were unimpressive.[19] She had failed to break 51 seconds in the 2009 season; some distance behind world-leader Richards' best of 49.23 seconds.[20] A hamstring problem caused her to withdraw from the London Grand Prix, raising doubts that she would be unable to defend her World title.[19]
Ohuruogu was selected for the British team at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics. She was disqualified in her individual 400 m after a false start.
| Event | Best | Location | Date |
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| 60 metres | 7.54 s | Birmingham, England | 21 February 2009 |
| 100 metres | 11.35 s | Irvine, California, United States | 4 May 2008 |
| 200 metres | 22.85 s | Hengelo, Netherland | 1 June 2009 |
| 400 metres | 49.61 s | Osaka, Japan | 29 August 2007 |
| Preceded by Helen Karagounis |
British Champion in 400m 2004 |
Succeeded by Donna Fraser |
| Preceded by Lee McConnell |
British Champion in 400m 2009 |
Succeeded by Lee McConnell |
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