Photo finish! Ohuruogu wins 400m gold with unbelievable performance in Moscow
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Christine Ohuruogu became world champion by the narrowest of margins, breaking the 28-year-old British 400m record, set by Kathy Smallwood-Cook at the Los Angeles Olympics.
In the most thrilling finish the Luzhniki stadium is likely to see, Ohurugu ducked at just the right time to snatch the gold medal from the clutches of Botswana’s Amantle Montsho who appeared unaware the Briton was on her shoulder. Both women clocked an identical time of 49.41sec and photo finish was required to separate them.
Ohuruogu came from 5m behind Montsho, putting in a trademark burst of speed down the final straight. The Olympic silver medallist looked beaten into second again but she kept accelerating right through the line to reclaim the world title she won in Osaka in 2007. It was in Japan six years ago that she set her previous personal best, but she is in even better shape now.
Small margins: Christine Ohuruogu's dip to the line allowed her to win gold ahead of Botswana's Amantle Montsho
Tight finish: The official photo finish shows just how close the pair finished to each other
Emotional: The east runner sheds a tear after receiving her gold medal
Delight: Ohuruogu won the race by just four thousandths of a second
Delight: Ohuruogu celebrates her victory
In full flight: It was a brilliant run to chase down the Botswana runner
Plaudits
Injured Olympic long jump gold medallist Greg Rutherford tweeted:
‘I just want to shout and scream and bounce around. What an incredible race. One of Britain's greatest ever. @chrissyohuruogu is just AMAZING’
A beaming Ohuruogu then wrapped herself in the Union Jack flag and did a victory lap around the stadium.
Ohuruogu was typically slow through the first 200m and the fast starting American Natasha Hastings was in front by the first bend. But her opponents know never to count her out, even when she is fourth coming off the final bend, as she was this evening.
Ohuruogu demonstrated the scintillating form she is in by running the fourth fastest time of her life to qualify for the final easing down, while Montsho ran the second fastest time in the world this year to qualify for the final. It was expected to be a close race but nobody could have predicted just how thrillingly close it was.
'I thank god, I am so grateful,' she told the BBC, having broken her previous personal best of 49.61s set in the 2007 world final.
'I can't believe I've done that, it feels like a dream.
'It is what I have been working towards all season, it was so tight on the line and I was so desperate to win it. I just wanted my name to come up.
'The last couple of days have been really tough and I just wanted to thank everyone who helped me. It feels really surreal and strange, it doesn't feel like I'm really here.
'I was thinking do what you can, just get over the line. The icing on the cake is the national record, that's all I wanted.
'Whatever you want just go for it, I am really happy I kept believing and trusting in what I could do.'
Pipped: Second placed Amantle Montsho embraces Ohuruogu
Medal tally: The east Londoner added another gold to the Great Britain haul
Trailing: Ohuruogu ran a brilliant race to catch the Botswanan runner, as she was trailing by a long way heading into the home straight
Christine Ohuruogu factfile
1984: Born May 17 in Forest Gate, London.
2003: Finishes third in the 400m at the European Junior Championships. Starts to concentrate on athletics after representing England at netball.
2004: Reaches the 400m semi-finals at the Athens Olympics and finishes fourth with the 4x400m relay squad.
2005: Part of the British 4x400m team that wins bronze at the World Championships in Helsinki.
2006: March - Wins 400m Commonwealth gold in Melbourne in 50.28seconds.
August 6 - Provisionally suspended by UK Athletics after missing three out-of-competition drugs tests in the last 18 months.
September 15 - Handed one-year ban by UK Athletics backdated to August 6 and an automatic lifelong ban by the British Olympic Association (BOA).
October 11 - Appeals to Court for Arbitration in Sport (CAS) against length of suspension.
2007: April 4 - CAS reject appeal.
July 29 - Lodges appeal to BOA for reinstatement.
August 5 - Suspension finishes.
August 7 - Chosen for World Championships in the 400m and 4x400m relay.
August 11 - Competes for the first time since the London Grand Prix on July 27, 2006. Wins her heat at the Scottish Championships in Glasgow in 53.09secs.
August 29 - Wins 400m gold at the World Championships in Osaka in a personal best 49.61s, also claiming bronze in the relay.
November 26 - Attends an appeal over her Olympic ban in front of a Sports Dispute Resolutions Panel in London.
November 27 - Wins her appeal with a unanimous verdict from the SDRP.
2008: August 19 - Wins Olympic gold in Beijing, defeating the American pre-race favourite Sanya Richards to win in 49.62.
2009: August - Having been troubled by a hamstring injury during the summer, finishes fifth in the World Championships in Berlin, running 50.21.
2010: July - Ruled out of the European Championships in Barcelona with a thigh injury.
September - Pulls out of the Commonwealth Games in Delhi through injury.
2011: August - Disqualified in the heats at the World Championships in Daegu for a false start.
2012: March - Wins gold in the 4x400m relay at the World Indoor Championships in Istanbul.
June - Runs fastest time since 2009, clocking 50.69 at the Diamond League meeting in New York.
Wins Olympic trials to seal her place on Team GB.
August 5 - Wins Olympic silver medal in London as she finishes second behind Sanya Richards-Ross.
2013: March - Wins 4x400m relay gold at the European Indoor Championships in Gothenburg.
July 27 - Runs fastest time outside a major championship, clocking 50 seconds flat to win the London Anniversary Games at the Olympic Stadium.
July 30 - Named as the Great Britain team captain for the World Championships.
August 12 - Wins gold medal in 400m in World Championship in Moscow, breaking Kathy Cook's 29-year-old national record in the process.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/othersports/article-2390374/Christine-Ohuruogu-wins-400m-gold-World-Athletics-Championships-Moscow.html#ixzz2bmkeTb1c
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