Athletes

There are many different kinds of champion. Some dominate week-in, week-out. Others peak, with an ominous inevitability, for the big races. Still others emerge from the back of the field, their talent bursting out at the moment of maximum opportunity.

Great Britain’s Christine Ohuruogu, the reigning Commonwealth, World and Olympic 400m champion at just 24 years old, does not fall into the first category, yet has constructed a career that suggests enduring greatness from elements of the second and third.

Despite the almost unimpeachable record, she is not quite her country’s golden girl, or not yet at least, because her accomplishments have come with controversy attached. Her astonishing 2008 season, which she capped with her win in Beijing, has gone some way to addressing that, and with London 2012 coinciding with what should be her peak as a runner, she could well become the symbolic home athlete of the Games.

It would be appropriate if she does, because Ohuruogu was born in Newham, east London, just a mile from the site of the Olympic stadium. One of nine children, she did not commit early to track and field, instead finding success as a netball player.

It was only after she took bronze at the European Junior Championships in 2003 that she turned to 400m running full-time, and the power that took her up through the field to a bronze medal would quickly become her trademark.

What marks Ohuruogu out is her ability to produce on the big occasion. She is the polar opposite of a choker. At the Commonwealth Games of 2006, she won her first major championship by defeating the favourite Tonique Williams-Darling in both semi-final and final.

This established a pattern she would repeat at the 2007 World Championship, where she was highly unfancied having just returned from suspension, and at the 2008 Olympic Games, where she turned on the burners to destroy Sanya Richards from a long way back on the final bend. She’s a runner of awesome power rather than pure speed, and a racer rather than a record-setter.

The controversy came before that World Championship win, when Ohuruogu served a one-year ban from the sport after missing three out-of-competition drug tests. Many sympathised, others didn’t, but Ohuruogu showed considerable mental strength in putting the ban behind her.

In Britain, reaction to her World Championship win was mixed, but come Beijing she had done her penance in the eyes of the press and was embraced as Team GB’s only track gold medallist. Her future is frighteningly bright.

Interview

Q You are already an Olympic and World 400m champion before your 25th birthday, what are your future aims?

A There is always something you need to do and something to work on, so that’s why I want to keep on at it.

Q You were a promising netball player as a teenager but chose a career in track and field. Do you miss netball?

A I used to enjoy netball and, obviously, I do miss it but I’m having a lot of fun too with athletics.

Q Your sister Victoria is a promising sprinter (England under-17 300m champion) what would be the best piece of advice you could give her for her athletics career?

A I’d tell her just to enjoy herself. She’s an intelligent young girl. I would tell her to enjoy and be proud of what she’s doing and don’t feel under pressure to do anything.

Q You have eight siblings. Is it hard to remember all their birthdays?

A They all tell me when their birthdays are. After I came back from the Olympic Games my brother kept on reminding me.

Q You will be the face of the London 2012 Games. How do you think you will handle the expectation?

A The same way I handle everything else. You have to remind yourself why you are going and you have to be capable of doing what you need to do. I have to ignore all the expectation and just do what I need to do.

Q How has you life changed since becoming Olympic champion?

A There has been offers for more work, it’s been a lot of fun.

Q What is the best part about being Olympic champion?

A There is no best part just everything is fun. I am just pleased to have gone there and to have won.

Q You have an outstanding ability to be able to peak for major championships, why do you think that is?

A I don’t know what it is? Everybody has been asking me, I just do what I need to do. There is not much else to it.

Q What are your biggest attributes as an athlete?

A I’m learning more and more about how to control my mind and focus. It is something I spend a lot of time working on, so it’s something I hope to get better at.

Q What are the roots of your surname?

A It’s Nigerian. I’m not too sure. I don’t really know to well. You’d better ask my dad. It’s something to do with being a fighter.

Q What did you treat yourself to after winning Olympic gold?

A I’ve not really given myself a massive treat. I’ve bought some clothes but I’ve been really busy. I’ve been shopping but nothing major. I like Top Shop.

Q Do you ever plan to use your degree linguistics in future?

A Yes, hopefully. I hope to teach it’s always been a dream of mine to teach at a secondary school.

Q What do you think you will do once your athletics career is over?

A I don’t really know we’ll just play it by ear.