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Christine Ohuruogu Wins 400m Gold for Britain
Great Britain has won the gold medal in the women’s 400m for the first time. 24-year-old Christine Ohuruogu ran an impressive 49.62 seconds, storming ahead of both Jamaica’s Shericka Williams and the 400m favourite, Sanya Richards from the USA.
Ohuruogu, who last summer completed a one-year ban for missing three out-of-competition drugs tests, added the Olympic crown to her world title. Christine Ohuruogu’s training has certainly paid off.
On winning the race the emotion and exertion to over and she collapsed to the floor. After she said
“Everyone dreams about winning, but you never think it’s a reality. I’m just so proud of myself. I crossed the line and just thought ‘oh my goodness’. It’s hard but my coach has always taught me you have to go into each race expecting to win.”
Christine made a text book finish to win the race. Coming into the final bend she was looking out of the race, but she had timed her final charge to perfection and left the competition trailing behind.
How Did Christine Ohuruogu Win the 400m?
Christine’s coach, Lloyd Cowan, breaks her race down into sections. He tells her the exact splits she needs at each point, at 100m, 200m and 300m. The strategy here was to run the first 200m at about half a second faster than she had in the semi-final, and then run the second half of the race at exactly the same pace as she had previously. Ohuruogu knew exactly what she was doing, and it was the hard work, intelligent training and sticking the plan that brought victory and a gold medal.
British women have a long proud tradition in Olympic 400m finals, from the silver medals won by Anne Packer and Lillian Board in 1964 and 1968 to the bronzes of Kathy Cook in Los Angeles and Katherine Merry in Sydney. Ohuruogu has now surpassed them all. She is the British athlete to win an Olympic 400m title since Eric Liddell in Paris in 1924.
The Olympic victory has made Christine Ohuruogu the World Champion, Commonwealth Champion and Olympic Champion. Certainly Britain’s finest track and field athlete since Dame Kelly Holmes!
Earlier in the day Germaine Mason won Britain’s first athletics medal of the Games with silver in the high jump.
Watch the Women’s 400m final on the BBC.
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