Olympics: ‘I worked damned hard for this’ says Christine Ohuruogu

 

Britain’s Christine Ohuruogu has powered to the Olympic women’s 400 metres title to provide Team GB with its first athletics gold medal. She almost missed the Games because of a doping ban.

 

The 24-year-old was allowed to compete in Beijing after an appeal. She was suspended for missing three out-of-competition drug tests.

But yesterday all that was forgotten as she sped over the last 50 metres to cross the line in 49.62 seconds. She had made an uncertain start to the race.

 

“It’s not luck, I worked damn hard for this,” she said. “I might not always get the best start, I might not always be the fastest person, but I just say now if you are going to beat me you are going to have to fight very hard.”

Britain currently holds 16 gold, 10 silver and 10 bronze medals. We are third in the medals table after giants China and the USA, and comfortably ahead of Australia - to their irritation - both on golds and overall medal tally! This is our best Olympic performance for 100 years.

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