"You have to learn to pick yourself back up and keep going if it's what you love doing," encourages the Olympic gold medallist at the World Championships in Berlin (2009).
Raise Your Game: As well as high points in sport at some point you have to deal with the bad times - how was that race?
Christine Ohuruogu: I went into it knowing it was going to be very tough. These girls have been running 49 seconds and I only touched 50 for the first time in the semi final. I knew it would be hard, but I always believed I could dig in and come away with a medal. I wanted to defend my title, so I'm a little bit disappointed.
Profile
Name:
Christine Ohuruogu
Born:
17 May 1984
From:
London
Event:
400m
Achievements:
- Fourth - 4x400m & fifth - 400m - IAAF World Championships, Berlin (2009)
- Winner - 200m UK Indoor Grand Prix, Birmingham (2009)
- Appointed MBE 2009
- Gold - 400m - Beijing Olympics (2008)
- Gold - 400m & Bronze - 4x400m - IAAF World Championships, Osaka (2007)
- Bronze - World Athletics final, Stuttgart (2007)
- Gold - 400m - Commonwealth Games, Melbourne (2006)
- Bronze - 4x400m - IAAF World Championships, Helsinki (2005)
RYG: How important is it to set yourself a fresh goal after a disappointment like that?
CO: I'll sit down, go through the rest of the season, and then look at next year. I've got the European Championships and the Commonwealth Games to aim for next year. Then I'll be focussing on the World Champs in 2011, where I'm getting back my title (laughs). It's important that I plan the next couple of years sensibly with London 2012 just around the corner. I need to get to 2012 in the best possible shape.
RYG: How do you deal with a disappointment like losing your World Championship crown?
CO: No-one ever likes to plan for a blip, but when you have one you have to get on with it. This is my blip. It's not how I wanted it. I've had an up and down season, but I thought I'd come out a bit better than fifth. It is what it is. I'm going to have a little cry and pick myself back up tomorrow.
RYG: What makes a great champion?
CO: I think the great champions come back stronger after disappointments like this. Unfortunately sport can be fickle. We rely on our bodies to do the job, but sometimes our bodies don't do as they're told, no matter how much you push it. That's just how it is. You have to learn to pick yourself back up and keep going if it's what you love doing.
A true champion should also give credit to their competitors. You should never take away anything from winners. These guys were good. They performed when they had to and I didn't. That tells me that to perform at that kind of level I have to raise my game.
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