By Yemi Babalola Lagos
Christine Ohuruogu is the amazon on focus for this week’s edition of Sport Amazon. She was born on May 17 1984 to Nigerian parents of Igbo descent East London. Christine from a tender age showed interest in sport. She has eight siblings and one of one of whom is sprint star Victoria Ohuruogu.
Christine began her track and field career representing England as a 19-year-old junior athlete in 2003 where she won the Bronze medal in the 400-meter race at the Under-20 European Junior Championships held in Tampere, Finland. She became the triple A champion in the 400 meter 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, at the age of 21 at the 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 alongside Lee McConnell, Donna Fraser and Nicola Sanders.
Christine was banned for a year in 2005 due to missing drug tests. She came back in 2006 at the Commonwealth Games held in Melbourne, Australia; she won a Gold medal for England in the 400-meter race. She could have won another Gold in the 4×100 meter relay but her team was stripped due to some protest from the Australian relay team. At her next Commonwealth outing, which was held in Glasgow in the year 2014, she won Bronze alongside her relay team in the 4×400 meter relay.
Having returned from the suspension for missing drug tests, she won Gold for England at the 2007 Athletics World Championships held in Osaka Japan, despite not been competitive the year before.
Looking at Christine’s overall medal haul so far, in her Olympics participation she has won Gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics in the 400-meter race and Bronze in the 4×400 meter relay alongside her relay squad in the same year. At the London 2012 Olympics, which was held on her home soil, Christine won Silver medal in the 400-meter race. While at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, she won Bronze medal in the 4×400 meter relay.
Christine in her World Championships career has won two Gold medals and she won individually, one Silver medal and five Bronze medals, all of which were won in the 4×400 meter relay with her relay team.
Christine in her World Indoor Championships outing has a Gold medal won at the Istanbul, Turkey 2012 championships in the 4×400 meter relay and a Bronze medal in the same race held in Sopot, Poland in 2014. At the European Indoor Championships, she won Gold alongside her relay team of Eilidh Child, Shana Cox, and Perri Shakes-Drayton in the 4×400 meter relay.
In the World Athletics Final, in 2007, Christine won Bronze medal in the 400-meter race and improved the following year by winning Silver medal at the same race, both of which were held in Stuttgart, Germany. At the European cup held in Florence, Italy in 2005, she won Gold with her 4×400 meter relay team and in 2008 edition held in Annecy, France in the same competition, she won Silver medal in the 200-meter race.
While, at the European Team Championships held in Leiria, Portugal in 2009 she won Bronze in the 200-meter race and in the 2013 edition held in the United Kingdom she won Gold in the 4×400 meter relay.
Despite been active in sports, Christine is a graduate of Linguistics from the University college London in 2005. Christine was appointed MBE (Member of the British Empire), at the 2009 New Year Honours, and conferred with an Honorary Doctorate by the University of East London. She is also an author, and any moment from now could become Britain’s most decorated female track-and-field athlete at the Games, barring IAAF’s decision on the Russian doping scandals.
