Ohuruogu's unnecessary year of hell
August 16th 2007 10:55
It represents the chance for vindication.
For those of you that don’t know Ohuruogu is one of our most talented 400m runners and the 2006 Commonwealth Champion.
She was seen as one of our brightest medal hopes for London 2012.
But all that changed last August just days before the European Championships in Gothenburg when it was made public that she had missed 3 out of competition drug tests.
These tests were made at random intervals and part of the job of being a professional athlete is letting the governing body know where you will be 24 hours a day 365 days a year.
Can you say where you will be this time of the day 3 months from now? How about 3 weeks? 3 days?
You can certainly understand why Ohuruogu slipped up, although she is so far the only athlete to fall foul of the rules so it must be possible by way of no other athletes being reprimanded………. Yet.
At the time of Ohuruogu’s third missed test there were already several other athletes on two missed tests so it’s only a matter of time.
As a result she received a 12 month ban, that’s four times longer than the ban athletes from other sports receive for the same offence.
In addition to being out of the sport for a full year the London based athlete is now banned from competing at any future Olympic Games for Great Britain as a consequence of having had to serve a drugs related suspension.
This lead to Ohuruogu almost quitting the sport.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) found there was no hint that Ohuruogu had cheated or intended to cheat as a result of missing the tests so why should she have to forgo her opportunity to represent GB on her own turf?
Why must we continually shoot ourselves in the collective foot over such ridiculous rules?
Would any other country treat one of their best athletes with such disdain as they publicly drag her name through the mud?
Of course not – it just shows that UKA needs to sort its priorities out.
(The above image was taken by Spitfirelas of www.Flickr.com)
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Comment by Anonymous
she effectively dug herself into a hole by the appeals process. peter cousins (judo) and tim don (triathlon) both accepted they had slipped up and just appealed against their Olympic bans rather than their federation bans.
Christine put herself thru unnecessary 'hell' and has noone else to blame but herself. She'll win her Olympic appeal under the same grounds as Cousins and Don, and will be here in 2012.
In my opinion she was ill-advised and immature - she's paid the consequences.
Comment by LukeS
Athletics News
I do feel that the appeal was necessary though and brought about as a direct result of UKA wishing to take a holier than thou approach to drug tests. Peter Cousins and Tim Don were both given 3 month bans, Ohuruogu was given a 12 month ban for the same offence - that was what she was appealing over as i understand it - not the fact that she did wrong but the fact that there was no continuity between the sentences.
I hope she does win an Olympic appeal and all the noises coming from the BOA about rethinking their bans to coincide with actual positive tests seems to prelude her reinstatement into the olympic movement.
Thanks for stopping by, constructive opinion is always welcome!