Christine Ijeoma Ohuruogu // , MBE (born 17 May 1984) is a British former track and field athlete who specialised in the 400 metres, the event for which she is an Olympic, World and Commonwealth champion. The Olympic champion in 2008, and silver medalist in 2012, she is a double World Champion, having won the 400 m at the 2007 and 2013 World Championships. She has also won six World championship medals in the women's 4 × 400 m relay as part of the Great Britain and Northern Ireland team and bronze Olympic medals in the women's 4 × 400 m relay at the 2008 Beijing Games and the 2016 Rio Games, her final Olympics. Ohuruogu shares with Merlene Ottey and Usain Bolt the record for medalling in most successive global championships – 9 – between the 2005 World Championships in Athletics and the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Ohuruogu's personal best time of 49.41 seconds, 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 woman to win two World Championship titles, and the first British woman to win three global titles (both achievements retrospectively moved to Jessica Ennis following her promotion to gold in the 2011 World Championships). Her relay bronze at the 2016 Summer Olympics made her only the second British track and field athlete, after Steve Backley to win medals at three successive Olympic Games.[3][4] She was coached by Lloyd Cowan.
Known for her strength endurance, consistent pacing, her gift for maintaining speed in the final straight as rivals struggled and slowed, and her capacity to peak for major championships, Ohuruogu retired in 2017, a year after winning her final senior global medal, a bronze as part of the Great Britain Olympic 4 × 400 metre relay team, her 12th overall global medal. Upon retirement, Ohuruogu made public her plan to begin her second career, seeking to qualify in law, with the aim of being called to the Bar.[5]
Ohuruogu mentored Matthew Hudson-Smith in 2022; their collaboration resulted in a British 400 metre record and a World Championship bronze medal, his first, for Hudson-Smith.[6]
- ^ "Team GB – Christine Ohuruogu". Archived from the original on 31 October 2018. Retrieved 4 January 2013.
- ^ "Performance". Chrissy O. Archived from the original on 31 October 2018. Retrieved 13 July 2016.
- ^ "BBC Sport - World Athletics 2013: Christine Ohuruogu wins gold in photo finish". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 26 August 2015. Retrieved 13 February 2018.
- ^ Matt Majendie (13 August 2013). "World Championships 2013: Christine Ohuruogu leaves it late again to seal her place in history". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 8 November 2020. Retrieved 18 August 2013.
- ^ Ohuruogu satisfied with career.
- ^ Hudson-Smith outruns demons in 400 metre final, from The Guardian.