Faith in Practice
The speed of light
In 2007 Christine Ohuruogu overturned a ban preventing her from representing Great Britain. This year she was the only British athlete to win a Gold medal in a track or field event at the games in Beijing.
My victory at the Olympics wasn’t a revenge for the things that had happened to me. I was glad to win so that I could show what I was capable of, but it wasn’t my motivation. People write things and it’s human nature to read them and to listen to their words about you, but I try to shrug it off with, ‘They would say that.’
My mum reminded me at one point that there was a time when no one liked Jesus. That’s what I hold on to. No matter how good you think you are, or aren’t, there will always be people wanting to criticise you. Jesus is such a great example of that.
I was pretty much brought up as a Christian, my parents took me to church on Sundays. Even though I was brought up like that you get to that point where you decide for yourself that this is your own personal faith. I’m not sure when that was for me, exactly, but I do remember going through school, looking ahead at my future and deciding that this was how I wanted to live.
I think a Christian is someone who is prepared the follow the faith, at least that’s the easiest way to describe it but there is more to it than that. It’s not just following but being able to act on your beliefs, not just talking about them. I try to act on my beliefs by being a light. Of sorts. There’s that bit in the bible about not hiding your light. I’m not an extrovert, so I don’t go out and preach but I do try to be a positive example.
Sometimes I read things about what Christians have done or said and I sigh. I guess Christians do just seem to get more bad press! In any culture or community there are people who don’t believe what they should or perhaps behave as they should. It’s not for us to judge them, people are people, they do things wrong and in their own way.
I think at the time when Paul wrote about running the race – I’m not sure, I should probably look it up – the Olympics were well known and he was trying to create a realistic metaphor. As an athlete you can see the comparison so easily.
I was always a sporty child. I loved PE lessons and taking part in different teams and activities. My love of sport always leaned towards netball. I was in the England U-17 and U-19 teams when I was growing up. I did athletics only sometimes, for sports days and things like that. It was until I did well in competitions that I decided to take it up as a different challenge.
In 2006 I was suspended from competing for a year. It was an extremely testing time. On the day that I found out about the ban, my mum said that I was like an elastic band – that no matter how far down I was being dragged, I would spring back even higher. At the time it didn’t mean as much to me, but over time the image really resonated. It is a great metaphor, especially if you are at the bottom and have nowhere to turn. God doesn’t make things go wrong for no reason. I learned a lot about myself at that time, I learned to believe in myself and it confirmed what I wanted to do with my life.
The race in Beijing is just a blur. When it finished I thanked God that I had won, but I was in this elated state of shock. I mean, what do you do next: scream? Run around? It was such a weird place to be. Not that I would have wanted to be anywhere else!
I don’t think that I deserved my gold medal. I don’t think that anyone ‘deserves’ anything. I got what I worked for. I don’t know what others have gone through, what challenges they have had to face. What my medal means to me is that I kept believing, that I kept my head up, that I honestly put the work in at every opportunity. The World Championships last year – where I won the gold medal only 24 days after my ban had been lifted – didn’t feel like a vindication for me. Rather it fully defended my views on how I needed to persevere.
For me the National Anthem will always be a special song. I think my mum taught me the words actually. It’s a song you would only want to hear at special occasions, and I was at a pretty special occasion - but I don’t think I could get bored of hearing it.
My faith has definitely had a role in my following this career path, perhaps not in such a tangible way. It is something I keep personal to me, more personal than professional development. My faith gives me the belief to do what I need to do. There’s this feeling that no matter what, things are always going to end up better somehow.
I don’t know what my plans for the future are! Sport is my skill and talent and I am going to go as far as I can take them. I hope that others learn from what I’m doing. I believe that as you are blessed you should try to go out and bless others.
Christine Ohuruogu was talking to Hannah Kowszun
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