As the reigning Commonwealth, World and Olympic Champion over 400m, Christine Ohuruogu has her sights firmly set on becoming the first woman to have ever defended her World title in Berlin this August.

Most Athletes dream of the Olympic Games coming to their country, but for Christine, born and bred in the 2012 Olympic borough of Stratford, when the Games come to London she will be defending her title in her home town.

This, combined with her impressive performance in the Birds Nest which brought home Britain’s only Track and Field Gold has resulted in Christine being heralded as the future face of 2012.

As a former U17 and U19 England netball player, Christine participated in Athletics from the age of 16 because of her love for running. She began to specialise in the 400m after agreeing to run her first race as no other athlete from Newham & Essex Beagles wanted to compete over such a distance. Christine was then regularly selected to run the 400m due to the impressive times she ran for her age.

In 2001, she ran 25.0 for the 200m and 55.29 for the 400m, placing her 3rd in the junior international rankings. In 2002, a hamstring injury forced Christine to miss the season, however, she made a superb return in 2003 by performing a personal best (54.21) taking bronze place at the European 400m. This proved to be the first of many Major Championship medals.

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Christine has joined Telegraph Sport, writing columns in the lead up to her major competitions in Berlin this summer and on to London 2012. Click below to read what she has to say:

February 2009