Records as of May 2020
400m NR - 49.41
U23 400m NR - 50.28
Major Championships and International Record
2016 - Olympic Games - 400m sf, 4x400 BRONZE. European Championships - 400m 4th.
2015 - World Championships - 400m 8th, 4x400 SILVER.
2014 - European Championships - 400m 4th. Commonwealth Games - 4 x 400 BRONZE. World Indoor Championships - 4x400 BRONZE.
2013 – World Championships - 400m GOLD, 4x400m SILVER. European Indoor Championships - 4x400m GOLD
2012 – Olympic Games - 400m SILVER. World Indoor Championships - 4x400m GOLD
2011 – World Championships - 400m DQ ht, 4x400m 4th
2009 – World Championships - 400m 5th. World Final 400m 6th
2008 – Olympic Games - 400m GOLD, 4x400m BRONZE. World Final 400m SILVER
2007 – World Championships - 400m GOLD, 4x400m BRONZE. World Final 400m SILVER
2006 – Commonwealth Games - 400m GOLD, 4x400m DQ
2005 – World Championships - 400m 4th sf, 4x400m BRONZE. European U23 Championships - 400m SILVER, 4x400m SILVER
2004 – Olympic Games - 400m 4th sf 400m, 4x400m 4th
2003 – European Junior Championships - 400m BRONZE
Domestic Championships Record
2017 - British Championships - 400m heats.
2015 - British Championships - 400m silver.
2013 – British Championships - 400m gold. British European Indoor Trials & UK Championships 60m 7th sf, 200m silver
2012 – British Championships - 400m gold
2011 – British Championships - 400m bronze
2009 – British Championships - 400m gold
2008 – British Championships - 200m silver
2006 – AAA Indoor Championships 60m silver, 200m silver, AAA U23 Championships silver
2005 – AAA U23 Championships 400m goold, AAA Championships 400m silver
2004 – AAA Championships 400m gold
The Newham & Essex Beagle was a former England netball player and atter picking up a bronze medal at the 2003 European Junior Championships she focussed solely on athletics. This decision was vindicated as she lowered her lifetime best from 54.21 to 52.20 in her first race of 2004, before reducing it again to 50.98 at the Olympic Trials which qualified her for the Olympic Games. At the age of 20, Ohuruogu performed impressively, taking another 0.48 seconds from her lifetime best in the heats, but missed the Olympic final by a meagre margin.
In 2005, Ohuruogu anchored the British 4x400m relay team to a bronze medal at the World Championships in Helsinki, but it was at the 2006 Commonwealth Games where Christine really came to the fore. The Londoner eased through her heat and semi-final, but it was thought that Ohuruogu would be no match for the world and Olympic champion Tonique Williams-Darling. But with her trademark home straight charge, the 24-year-old upset the Bahamian to take the victory in a PB of 50.28. Soon after though, things turned sour as it was announced on the eve of the 2006 European Championships that she would be banned for one year and also from the Olympic Games, due to three missed out of competition drug tests.
Amidst much controversy, Ohuruogu was still named in the British squad for the World Championships in Osaka and only days after the ban ended, Christine delivered a solid performance at the Scottish Championships, before flying out with the British team to the holding camp in Macau and in the warm-up meeting on August 23, Ohuruogu showed she was perhaps a potential finalist with a 50.56 clocking, but nobody could have predicted the outcome of the next five days.
In the heats in Osaka, Christine eased to a victory, in another season’s best of 50.46 (her second fastest ever 400m at the time) and in the semi-final, Ohuruogu improved to 50.16, but many people still considered Nicola Sanders as the slight favourite ahead of her compatriot. In a thrilling final, Ohuruogu judged her finish to perfection, overhauling Jamaica’s Novlene Williams and holding off Sanders in the closing stages for a shock gold medal in another lifetime best of 49.61, to move her to third on the British all-time list behind Kathy Cook and Katherine Merry. She successfully appealed against her Olympic ban and this was overturned in November 2007.
In the 2008 campaign, Ohuruogu was focusing solely on the Olympic Games and unlike many of her rivals, the Lloyd Cowan-coached athlete raced very sparingly prior to the Olympic Games and a season’s best of 50.80 prior to Beijing left people unconvinced about her fitness. However, Christine looked supreme in her heat and in the semi-final, she imposed herself on the rest of the field, blasting to a season’s best of 50.14. Many still believed Sanya Richards remained the pre-race favourite, as she broke the 50-second barrier in her semi-final, but in the final Ohuruogu had the advantage with Richards being on her outside. For the third successive championships, the 24-year-old gauged he finish to perfection to take the title.
2009 was not to be her best year and dogged by injury she did well to make the World Championship final and finish in fifth place while 2010 started off promisingly with a 50.88 clocking in May in Doha but yet again injury beset her yet again and she had to miss both the European Championships and Commonwealth Games. 2011 proved to be another disappointing year culminating in disqualification after a rare false start in the World Championships in Daegu.
If there were any doubt about her credentials or ability to compete at the highest level, she proved those doubters wrong in the Olympic 400m final where she timed her peak to almost perfection with a silver medal and her only sub-50 clocking of the season. However, in 2013 at the IAAF World Championships she produced the run of her life, not only taking the title, but also breaking Kathy Cook's long-standing British record.