Physical Education/PSHE KS2 & KS3: How Christine Ohuruogu became a top athlete

BBC Teach > Primary Resources / Secondary Resources > KS2 Physical Education / KS3 Physical Education > KS2 PSHE / KS3 PSHE > Olympic Spark: Fire Up Your Future

CHRISTINE: My name is Christine Ohuruogu and I'm a 400 meter runner for Great Britain.

COMMENTATOR: Christine Ohuruogu has really attacked this first 200.

CHRISTINE: I think my real venture into sport where I started thinking about it seriously would've been in secondary school. I became a regular and a feature on the netball team and my love for netball just blossomed. I really, really stuck at it. I think after a while they said that they had trials for the county netball team and to my surprise I got through (laughs), and I said one day I'm going to play for England. I made the England under 17s and then again for England under 19s. So, for a lot of my childhood netball was my first love.

CHRISTINE: I didn't start running until I was about 16 years old and I only did 400 because at the club I was at nobody else wanted to do it. You know, I thought it's one lap of a track, just jog the first bit, and then try and sprint really hard for the last half. I think because I was successful I didn't complain, they put me in for the next race, and the next, and the next, and then before you knew I was a resident 400 meter runner.

CHRISTINE: My s-, spark for athletics happened around the school sports day and I trained for it, you know, I took it really seriously. You know, when people run and they said they enjoy, like, feeling the wind, I think especially as a kid and you-, you're running really fast you actually do feel like you're flying. It's an immense sense of freedom. It kind of got me thinking, like, if I trained as hard as I did for netball and I was able to, you know, go far, what would happen if I did the same thing for athletics.

CHRISTINE: The London Olympics was in my mind approaching with a lot of mixed feelings. I was Olympic champion from Beijing, I just knew that I couldn't allow this to not work out for me. For the final I was really nervous at the start line, thinking that this is it, this is everything I've been working towards. So you're standing there waiting, getting really nervous on the start line and I think you get into the blocks you think 'okay, this is it', the man says, "On my-, on your marks," you think 'okay, getting closer and closer', "Set," and then go, or the gun goes. I had one focus which was to try and chase the girl on the outside because I was in lane eight. I lost a bit of ground with the girl on the outside and I think that's something that I paid for heavily. You know, when you're running you're making decisions all the time, you're constantly thinking about your pace and your mind's full of the people that are on the inside lane, who might be coming through.

COMMENTARY: Sanya Richards-Ross coming through and Christine Ohuruogu is coming again.

CHRISTINE: As I was running coming down the home straight I believe that I was running really well and I know that when I came off the line I was a little bit disappointed in getting a silver medal, but when I did my lap of honour and I saw how proud everybody was it really did get to me. I started crying because I just thought I couldn't believe that everybody was so happy and, like, I'd made their night (laughs).

CHRISTINE: It's proven that if people are active and take part in some activity they feel better, and if people feel better they're more productive, and they're more likely to go out there, look for opportunities, and to go out and push themselves without saying, "Oh, you know, it's too hard," they're more likely to go out and feel better about themselves. So, that's why sport is great on so many levels.

The story of how 400m Olympic gold medallist Christine Ohuruogu became a top athlete.

As a child, her big passion was netball - she played competitively and loved being in a team.

But, when no one else wanted to do the 400m, she stepped up and this changed the course of her life.

The sense of freedom she describes as “almost like flying,” coupled with natural talent and a desire to do well, meant she was selected to race again and again.

With animation, photos and Olympic footage to help illustrate her journey, Christine explains that when racing, you have to constantly make difficult decisions and that things don't always go your way.

As a former gold medallist, she did feel initial upset at having only won silver in the 2012 Olympics.

However, the roar of support and smiles on the faces of the people in the crowd soon turned disappointment into pride.

Christine even mentions that she looked out into the crowd and realised that she had "made their night!"

Christine’s message to children is that, “sport encourages productivity and activity makes you feel better - in all ways.”

This clip is from the series Olympic Spark: Fire Up Your Future.

Teacher Notes

This clip could be used to discuss the attributes you need to become a top athlete like Christine Ohuguoru.

She became a 400 metre runner by chance and had previously been very good at netball.

Students should consider if there are some attributes transferable to different sports.

They could try a different sport based on some of their particular skills or strengths.

Consideration could be given as to whether cross-training between different sports could improve their performance.

Hold a group discussion and encourage students to keep inspiring quotes and photos of athletes they admire and look up to.

Curriculum Notes

This clip is suitable for teaching Physical Education and PSHE at KS2 and KS3 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and and 2nd, 3rd and 4th Level in Scotland.