IF THERE is one thing analysts and commentators have learnt with Christine Ohuruogu, it is to ignore form and fitness in the lead-up to a major championships. Time and again, the double world and 2008 Olympic champion has produced her best when it matters and, with the defence of her 400m world title starting tomorrow, Ohuruogu is again counting on her experience and inner confidence to pull her through.
Glimpses of her best form have been rare since she won her second world title in Moscow two summers ago. Last year was, she said, “a stop-gap year” of mental and physical recovery, a year to contemplate a final tilt at adding to her collection of seven medals, including three individual golds, at world championships and Olympic Games. Ohuruogu’s appearance at the European championships last summer, in which she was fourth, was more a matter of keeping interested than staying competitive. This year two appearances in the Diamond League, in London’s Olympic Park and in Monaco, and a laboured early-season outing in Birmingham have barely altered the tempo of a career heading into the twilight zone.
Veteran Ohuruogu watchers might note that her most recent run, in Monaco, produced a time of 50.82sec, her best for a couple of seasons. Perhaps the return to the Bird’s Nest stadium, where she won her Olympic title, will spark a revival.
“I don’t recall much about it,” Ohuruogu said. “A lot has happened since 2008 and it all tends to merge into one. I haven’t watched a video of the race. I don’t do that. I’m not one of those athletes who goes back and over-analyses. I don’t like to watch myself running so I only ever watch when I’m forced to. I’m trying to go in to Beijing with as blank a slate as possible.”
Judging by her mood, this is a different Ohuruogu from the one described by her long-time coach, Lloyd Cowan, as “like a boxer in a training camp when Olympics and worlds come around”. The word she used most was “enjoyment”, which suggested that the enigmatic, moody athlete of a few years ago had found some sense of peace with herself, her sport and her young teammates.
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“I could retire now and be happy with what I’ve achieved,” she said. “But I enjoy this strange, crazy, event. I enjoy being part of this team. There’s a wealth of young athletes on the GB team and they should be pleased with themselves. It’s daunting to come out here, but they’re coping well with it and I’m always around if anyone needs anything. It’s nice to be part of their journey. It keeps me young.”
At the age of 31, Ohuruogu is postponing retirement. “Rio might be it,” she said, but nobody would be surprised if the lure of the 2017 world championships at the Olympic stadium, in her own borough, proved too strong to resist.
It means nothing to her that her fastest time this season is not even in the world’s top 10, just as her name does not appear on the list of the fastest 25 women at 400m. The clock in Ohuruogu’s head is precise enough when it needs to be: 49.41sec (Moscow 2013), 49.61sec (Osaka 2007) and 49.62 sec (Beijing 2008) are her golden winning times.
As Cowan, who has relinquished his duties as Ohuruogu’s coach this season through illness, said after the win in Moscow: “What you saw was a woman who knows what she wants to do and when she wants to do it.” Much will depend on whether she can retain the ability to find those extra fractions on the big night.
Ohuruogu has always needed a target to drag her into a race — a trait that drove Cowan to distraction — but old adversaries Francena McCorory and Sanya Richards-Ross are not part of the US team. Instead, there is an intriguing newcomer to the event in Allyson Felix, who is doubling up with the 200m and has posted some quick times this year. The prospect of Ohuruogu hunting down the American over the last 50m is certainly one to savour if both make the final on Thursday.
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“I try not to worry about who’s not there,” said Ohuruogu. “I’ll just race who’s there. I honestly don’t know what form I’m in. I’m fit and healthy and happy, that’s all I need.” Not for the first time, we will have to take Ohuruogu’s word for it.