LONDON, United Kingdom, Feb 14 – Former World and Olympic 400m champion Christine Ohuruogu has been one of the finest one lap runners on the planet for the past decade.
Here the hugely experienced British athlete talks about how she has overcome a constant stream of challenges during her long and successful career.
Beating self-doubt
“I don’t think there is one greatest challenge I’ve faced in my career, but I think as an athlete, you face challenges every day. Like many athletes I face self-doubt regularly; am I doing too much training, am I doing too little, am I fit enough, am I healthy?
Throughout my career of more than ten years, I’ve faced challenges. Last year, for example, was a really tough year. I enjoyed really good winter training in preparation for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, but then I made a huge error. Despite all my experience I over trained. It was the first time it happened in my career. I maybe got a little over excited.
Typically, every year around April time I often face Achilles problems and I usually take ten days off. Yet in 2016 I didn’t have any issues with my Achilles problems and I trained right through. I didn’t take a break and I maybe did too much in training. Because of this by the time I got to Rio I was not at my best.
I don’t like to say sport is a sacrifice, but I suppose the older you get you realise what a sacrifice it is. Yet I didn’t want to give up (on the sport) after putting in all that hard work. I don’t know whether I’ve made the right decision to carry on (with the sport), but I’ve just got to roll with it.
I would say I’m challenged every day. Every day I enjoy being challenged and maybe I respond best in adversity. You want to be challenged in order to become better as an athlete.”