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BRITISH OLYMPIC CHAMPION OHURUOGU TO COMPETE AT ODYSSEY ARENA

26 January 2009 - 30 January 2009

Athletics Northern Ireland and Athletics Ireland and delighted to announce that the Beijing Olympics 400 metres champion Christine Ohuruogu will be competing in the Woodie’s DIY Irish Indoor Senior Championships at the Odyssey Arena Belfast on 7th-8th February.

This is the sixth Irish Indoors meeting in the north which has been made possible by the generous assistance of title sponsor Woodie’s DIY and funding partners Belfast City Council and Sport Northern Ireland. The organizers are pulling out all the stops to ensure that this annual event offers top quality competition and entertainment for all the family.

24 year old Ohuruogu will be the first British track Olympic champion to compete in the Province since sprinter Linford Christie raced at the Mary Peters Track in August 1992 immediately following his triumph in the Barcelona Olympics. Local athletics enthusiasts will be able to get full value for their money at the Odyssey as Christine has confirmed she will compete in both the 60m and 200m including heats.

British Athlete of the Year Ohuruogu achieved the ultimate pinnacle of Olympic gold in last Augusts’ Beijing Games 400m when she completely upset the form book to overhaul hot US favourite, Sanya Richards in the home straight to win in 49.62 seconds ahead of silver medalist Shericka Williams of Jamaica.

When explaining her emphatic win over a disconsolate Richards who had won her previous 9 races, Christine stated that her whole focus in athletics was to train for championships- hence her slow build up to the Olympics.

This singular focus on the races that count has served Ohuruogu well in the past three years. In early 2006 she took the Melbourne Commonwealth title and followed this up in August 2007 with World gold in Osaka in a PB of 49.61 seconds just ahead of teammate Nicola Sanders.

Throughout her career Christine has always maintained that winning is the top priority as opposed to simply achieving fast times- Cathy Cook still holds the British record of 49.49 seconds from 1984.

Ohuruogu’s main concern this year will therefore be to defend her world title in Berlin next August. While her immediate plans do not include the European Indoors in Turin in March she does intend to compete in the Birmingham Grand Prix meeting 2 weeks after her Odyssey experience.

One thing is certain regarding the Olympic champion who was recently awarded an MBE; all her competitive appearances this year including the Irish Indoors will be closely monitored to see if she can continue to dominate on the track in the same impressive way.

Meet Director of the event and General Secretary of Athletics NI John Allen commented:
“We are delighted that Christine will be able to compete in Belfast on the weekend of 7th & 8th of February. It is not often we get to see such a well known Olympic champion compete in the province and I hope the local athletics fans will give her the welcome she deserves.”

Already announced for this top class event are Irish Olympians Paul Hession (200m), Robert Heffernan and Olive Loughnane (5K Walk). This year competition for places on the Irish Team for the European Indoor Championships in Turin will be hotly contested and local Irish athletes will be vying for their place at the Odyssey Arena.

Action gets under way at 4:30pm on Saturday and 1:00pm on Sunday. The event will be shown on RTE on Monday 9th February. Tickets are available at the Odyssey Box Office- visit www.indoorathletics.net for further details.