Christine Ohuruogu

Christine Ohuruogu

Ohuruogu at the parade in London to celebrate the achievements of British competitors at the 2008 Summer Olympics.
Personal information
Born	(1984-05-17) 17 May 1984 London, England
Height	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)[1]
Weight	68 kg (150 lb)
Sport
Country	Great Britain
Club	Newham and Essex Beagles
Turned pro	2004
Achievements and titles
World finals	2007 – 1st 2013 – 1st
Olympic finals	2008 – 1st, 400m
Highest world ranking	200 m: 11 (2008) 400 m: 2 (2007/2008)
Personal best(s)	100 m 11.35 200 m 22.85 400 m 49.41 NR
Medal record Competitor for  Great Britain Women's athletics Olympic Games Gold 2008 Beijing 400 m Silver 2012 London 400 m World Championships Gold 2007 Osaka 400 m Gold 2013 Moscow 400 m Bronze 2005 Helsinki 4x400 m relay Bronze 2007 Osaka 4x400 m relay Bronze 2013 Moscow 4x400 m relay World Indoor Championships Gold 2012 Istanbul 4x400 m relay European Indoor Championships Gold 2013 Gothenberg 4x400m relay European Team Championships Bronze 2009 Leiria 200 m European U23 Championships Silver 2005 Erfurt 400 m Silver 2005 Erfurt 4 x 400 m relay Representing  England Commonwealth Games Gold 2006 Melbourne 400 m
Updated on 11 October 2008.

Christine Ijeoma Ohuruogu, MBE (born 17 May 1984) is a British athlete, who specialises in the 400 metres; the event for which she is the current World and former Olympic and Commonwealth Champion.

She is a double World Champion, having also won the 400 m at the 2007 World Championships, and was a silver medalist at the Olympics in London. She has also won three World championship bronze medals in the women's 4 x 400m relay as part of the Great Britain and Northern Ireland team.

Ohuruogu's personal best time of 49.41s, set at the 2013 World Championships, beat the UK record set by Kathy Cook in 1984 by 0.02 seconds, simultaneously making her the first British female to win two World Championship titles, the first British female to win three global titles, and the first British athlete of either gender to win three global titles in the same event; she remains the only female British athlete to have done so.^[2][3] She is coached by Lloyd Cowan.

Biography

Born to Igbo Nigerian parents^[4][5] in Newham, east London,^[6] she was raised less than one mile from the 2012 Summer Olympics stadium in Stratford.^[7] She competed for Newham in the London Youth Games at both netball and athletics.^[8] She was inducted into the London Youth Games Hall of Fame in 2009. Ohuruogu studied at University College London, where she graduated in Linguistics in 2005.^[9] She also played netball during her undergraduate studies. She has eight siblings, one of whom is Victoria Ohuruogu, a sprints competitor. She attended St. Edward's Church of England School, Romford and Trinity Catholic High School, Woodford Green.

Ohuruogu is a member of Newham and Essex Beagles Athletics Club.

She was appointed MBE in the 2009 New Year Honours,^[10][11] and conferred with an Honorary Doctorate by the University of East London.^[12]

She is the author of the "Camp Gold" series of children's books about an elite training school for budding athletes.^[13]

Athletics career

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.

Ohuruogu 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 the semi-final and the final.^[14]

She was banned for a year for missing three out-of-competition drug tests; one in October 2005 and then a further two in June 2006.^[15]

Within 24 days of the end of her year-long competition suspension she returned to win the gold medal at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka. Fellow British athlete, Nicola Sanders won silver with Novlene Williams of Jamaica third. Ohuruogu won all three of her individual races at the world championships – her heat, her semi-final and the final.

2006 Commonwealth Games Relay controversy

2006 Commenwealth games: Danvers-Smith (centre) should have been the other side of Lewis (left). In the background: Sanders (back left) and Willis (back middle) had to change lanes, resulting in the 'obstruction' and disqualification.

At the 2006 Commonwealth Games, Ohuruogu missed out on a gold medal due to a mix-up caused by other members of her team. She ran the final leg in the 4 x 400 m relay for England, where the team finished over a second ahead of Australia, with Ohuruogu pulling away at the end. However after the race the Australians were awarded the gold medal, after they protested that the English team had breached IAAF Rule 170 earlier in the race, when Danvers-Smith changed position with Tamsyn Lewis. Australian winner Jana Pittman offered the England team her gold medal, stating "They set the fastest time of the day and England are the winners of the race".^[16][17]

Ohuruogu (in dark blue, centre) winning the 400 m at the world championship in Osaka

Competition suspension

Christine Ohuruogu was suspended from competing in the 2006 European Athletics Championships because she had committed a doping violation.^[18] She missed three out-of-competition drug tests, known as the "whereabouts" system, of the World Anti-Doping Code; one in October 2005 and then a further two in June 2006.^[15] Under IAAF and British Olympic Association rules, she received a one-year ban for missing these tests, which expired on 5 August 2007.^[19] The final test missed occurred when Ohuruogu failed to inform the testers of a last-minute change of training venue after a double-booking. Due to the circumstances, the Independent Committee stated "There is no suggestion, nor any grounds for suspicion, that the offence may have been deliberate in order to prevent testing," and that a fair ban would have been 3 months. Ohuruogu passed tests 9 days before and 3 days after her final violation.^[20]

The British Olympic Association also imposed a lifetime ban on competing at future Olympic Games for Great Britain.^[21] She appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, but the original decision was upheld, even though CAS emphasised that there was no suspicion of doping. Ohuruogu submitted a further appeal, citing the precedent of triathlete Tim Don.^[20] Ohuruogu suggested that she would probably leave Britain and compete in the Olympics for another country if it was unsuccessful, but confessed "I haven't really given it any serious thought.".^[22][23] Her Olympic ban was over-ruled on 27 November 2007.

2007 Athletics World Championships

A day after her ban was finished, Ohuruogu was selected for the British team at the 2007 Athletics World Championships.^[19] She had only run five competitive races before the final since her suspension; however, she won the individual 400m, taking the only gold medal for Great Britain at the Championships. Nicola Sanders won silver. Ohuruogu was also part of the bronze medal winning team in the 400 m relay.

2008 Olympics

In Beijing, Ohuruogu won her heat against Yulia Guschina who finished 0.18 seconds behind. She won the semi-final over Shericka Williams by 0.14 seconds. In the final she became the first ever British female 400m champion, by beating the pre-race favourite Sanya Richards (bronze) and Shericka Williams (silver), with a time of 49.62s,^[24] the fastest time of 2008.^[25]

2009

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.^[26] She competed at the 2009 Manchester City Games, finishing second in the 150 metres final in 17.10 seconds.^[27] She ran a personal best 22.85 seconds to take second place in the 200 m at the Fanny Blankers-Koen Games.^[28] 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.^[29] She had failed to break 51 seconds in the 2009 season; some distance behind world-leader Richards' best of 49.23 seconds.^[30] A hamstring problem caused her to withdraw from the London Grand Prix, raising doubts that she would be able to defend her World title.^[29] Ohuruogo's form improved in time for the 2009 World Championships, and she set a season's best time in her semi-final heat.She ran another season's best of 50.21s in the final, well behind Sanya Richards, who won in a time of 49.00s

2011 Athletics World Championships

Ohuruogu was selected for the British team at the 2011 World Championships. She was disqualified from the individual 400 m after a false start.

2012 Olympics

Ohuruogu won the silver medal at 400m in the 2012 London Olympics. In a close race Sanya Richards Ross held on to take the gold while Ohuruogu produced a fast finish to beat DeeDee Trotter and Amantle Montsho by just a few hundredths of a second to take the Silver. Trotter took Bronze and Montsho, the World Champion finished fourth. Richards-Ross won in 49.55s, Ohuruogu ran a season's best time of 49.70, which is only the third time she has run under 50 seconds. Ohuruogu said she was "heartbroken" to not be able to defend her title.

2013 Athletics World Championships

Ohuruogu claimed a second World Title on 12 August 2013, becoming the first British woman to do so, by winning the 400m final in Moscow. A late surge helped her pip Amantle Montsho in a photo finish, and beat Kathy Cook's long-standing British record in the process, with a time of 49.41s, beating Montsho by 0.004 seconds.^[31]

Personal bests

Titles

International Titles

Preceded by Aliann Pompey	Commonwealth Champion in 400m 2006	Succeeded by Amantle Montsho
Preceded by Tonique Williams-Darling	World Champion in 400m 2007	Succeeded by Sanya Richards
Preceded by Tonique Williams-Darling	Olympic Champion in 400m 2008	Succeeded by Sanya Richards-Ross
Preceded by Amantle Montsho	World Champion in 400m 2013	Succeeded by current
Preceded by  United States Debbie Dunn DeeDee Trotter Natasha Hastings Allyson Felix	World Indoor Champion in 4 x 400m relay representing  Great Britain with Shana Cox Nicola Sanders Perri Shakes-Drayton 2012	Succeeded by current
Preceded by  Russia Kseniya Zadorina Kseniya Vdovina Yelena Migunova Olesya Forsheva	European Indoor Champion in 4 x 400m relay representing  Great Britain with Eilidh Child Shana Cox Perri Shakes-Drayton 2013	Succeeded by current

National titles

See also

• List of sportspeople sanctioned for doping offences

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Christine Ohuruogu.

• Christine Ohuruogu profile at IAAF