She’s the Olympic, World and Commonwealth 400m champion and one of the biggest names in UK athletics right now. Sportsister spoke to Christine Ohuruogu at the launch of adidas’ adizones - giant outdoor urban sports areas, in place to inspire young people within the five Olympic host boroughs in London to participate in sport.
You have won at the Commonwealths in Melbourne, the Worlds in Osaka and now the Olympics in Beijing, you certainly seem to be able to perform on the big stage.
I do everything on a year by year basis. I always believe that you have experiences that help set you up for the next thing. So for me going into the Olympics I thought, well I have already kind of done this before. I know I can do this, so it’s about not allowing things to distract you. I just tend to draw on my past experiences to help me keep pushing on.
How big a part did tactics play in your win?
I’m not the greatest tactician when it comes to the 400m, but what my coach does say is that I instinctively do know what I need to do.
I am quite intuitive, and I don’t panic, and I think that that is the most important thing in a 400m, because if you do you lose your rhythm you lose your form.
Even though I always say the race plan goes out the window, I think intuitively I know what I need to do. I don’t think I actually realise that at the time, but when I look back I realise that I do know what I’m doing!
Was there a point during the race when you thought you had it?
It’s weird; I was in a complete bubble. I wasn’t really aware, I just didn’t know where I was. Even on the home straight when I was so far down I don’t remember thinking ‘Oh Chris you have lost it’. At the World Champs I did think that, I thought I’d messed up but I didn’t get that impression when I was running at the Olympics.
Even though I was down that didn’t even occur to me, I really don’t know where I was! I think that as I was creeping up on them I thought I could get them, I knew I wasn’t going to die, I knew that as long as I kept my rhythm that I was going to be ok.
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What has the reaction been like from the British public since you returned home?
(At this point a man in the gym where Sportsister is speaking to Christine came over and started gushing over her, telling her how amazing she did and how proud Londoner’s were of her, repeating over and over again ‘you’ve done us proud, thank you so much, you’ve done us proud’.)
It’s been really awesome, I really wasn’t expecting any of it. It’s just so nice to see how many people you do touch. When you are out there you live in a bit of a bubble and you really don’t know if people are taking too much notice. We don’t read the papers and the TV is basically just the Olympics 24/7, so you really don’t know about anything outside of the village.
It’s been very nice to have such a great reaction. Just walking around and hearing comments from young kids, it’s great.
It’s amazing to hear that you made so many people happy on that mundane Tuesday afternoon!
You join an elite group of eight British women who have won Olympic gold at track and field. What do you think needs to be done to ensure this number grows again at 2012?
I think that we are already doing the right things and we just need to be patient. Rome wasn’t built in a day and it’s the same here. In Athens we had a lot of people retiring and it is going to take time to build that back up.
As athletes I don’t feel that we are doing badly, we just need to find our feet. There were a lot of good performances out there, particularly the women; there were a lot of season’s bests and personal bests - actually now I am thinking about it we did really well! I think it is just a matter of being patient with ourselves.
The women’s team in athletics is really improving. We came third in the European Cup this year, and in previous seasons we have been relegated. We come up, we go back down…..and this year we came third. So there is great improvement but we do need to be patient and allow athlete improvements to take place, as it won’t all happen over night.
Who do you think are the up and coming names in track and field right now?
We have so many! There’s Steph Twell (read our interview with Steph here) who made it out to the Olympics this year, and Perri Shakes-Drayton too. We have to make sure that we are there to support them as they develop.
It’s always going to be tough, always harder for women than it is for men. I don’t mean that in terms of physical ability but in what they have to juggle to pursue this.
And that’s why it’s so important that we are there to support them.
What does it mean to have the London 2012 Olympics happening on your doorstep?
It’s a huge deal. I think when I came back from Athens someone made quite an important point that has stuck with me. He said that not many people ever get to go to an Olympic Games. We have the privilege of going because we are athletes, but a lot of people never even get to go and sit in a stadium. I think it is so great that the Games being held here means so many of the British people will now get to witness an Olympic Games right on their doorstep, and I think it is something to be welcomed.
Personally we think you would be the perfect face for the 2012 Games. Is that something you would like to happen?
Well, anything is an honour, it is just great to be recognised for your achievements, and that would be a huge honour. But whether I am the face or not I am definitely going to be involved because it is something that is very close to me and it’s such an important thing to be a part of it, face or no face!
I understand your younger sister is hoping to compete at 2012?
Everybody has heard about my younger sister!
She is only 15 and the next few years are going to be tough for her, even more so because of me. I have made life very difficult for her.
I just want to support her as much as I can, and whether she is at the Olympic Games or not, I want her to enjoy herself, enjoy her running and competing, because it is going to be hard and I don’t want to put too much pressure on her.
I want her to be going out and enjoying herself, and getting told off, and getting grounded - she’s only 15, that’s what growing up is about! I don’t want her to be stressing about track, because even now she beats herself up a lot and I don’t think that’s right, not at this stage anyway.
Do you think you are an inspiration to her for taking up track?
No, I don’t think so actually. Even at primary school there was a coach that worked with her then and she joined because of that. I don’t think it was because of me; I think it was that someone gave her the opportunity to do track and field and she just jumped at it and then she was fortunate enough that she was good at it and she has just stuck with it.
You competed for England at netball in your teens to an international level, how did you make the decision to choose athletics?
By the time I had made that decision I had already won a bronze medal in the European Championships, so I was already on the international scene with a medal in my hand. I was doing both at the same time for a while, but I realised I could not continue doing both. I think winning the medal opened my eyes to another world outside of netball, because all I had known was netball and I absolutely loved it since starting at primary school.
But winning the bronze meal showed me other things that I could do.
There is a buzz you get from just being on your own on the track, and having that strength to go out and run by yourself. I think it is scary, but I was really pleased that I had done that.
Time wise it just wasn’t possible to do both as my netball was six days a week training, it was just too much. My coach in track and field was wanting me to do more training and I was also studying for my A-levels too, it just became too much.
It wasn’t easy to make that phone call to say that I wasn’t coming back to international netball; it was really hard especially when I had been doing that for so long. But I think the opportunity to try something new was just too good to resist.
Did you miss out on the camaraderie after moving from a team sport to an individual sport?
Where I train there is a large group of us so you still very much get that team feeling, but also get that individual element too which I feel makes you really strong as a person.
Do you do any other sports now? Or any kind of cross training?
In training we do try and vary it as much as possible. I do swimming, aqua jogging and rowing. All these things do help to make me that little bit stronger. I think it would get a bit boring just running all the time!
What would you say to try and encourage younger girls to stay in sport at school or take up sport again if they have already dropped out?
I think young girls find it particularly hard because they think that they have to be super fit. And I think that young girl’s get too distracted by little things, like hair and getting sweaty, and if we can just take all that away and focus on the fact that if we look after our bodies then we are going to feel good no matter what, it will help.
If you don’t like running there are so many other things you can do. It doesn’t have to be about going out and getting really, really sweaty, there are so many choices there will be something to suit everyone.
Quick fire questions:
What is the last book you read? Thirty three teeth by Colin Cotterill
What is your favorite meal? I love lasagna
Do you have any hobbies? I am thinking about learning another language but I haven’t quite decided which one yet, I’m thinking it will probably be Japanese.
What kind of music do you listen to? Do you train to music? I like all sorts. I listen to a lot of garage and r n’ b. I like to have something in my ears when I am warming up, it puts me in a different mood. I love my music so much I always have to carry it around with me everywhere.
Are you competitive when off the track? Not overtly, I don’t make out like I have to win all the time, but in my head I do!
Louise Hudson, Sportsister
The Women’s Sports Magazine
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