Ohuruogu overturns her Olympic ban - CNN.com Ohuruogu overturns her Olympic ban Story Highlights World 400m champion Christine Ohuruogu cleared to compete at Beijing 2008 British runner overturns lifetime Olympic ban following an appeal on Monday The 23-year-old Londoner had missed three out-of-competition drugs tests LONDON, England -- World 400 meters champion Christine Ohuruogu has been cleared to compete at Beijing 2008 after winning her appeal against a lifetime Olympic ban. Christine Ohuruogu was cleared to compete for Britain at the Olympic Games in Beijing next year. The 23-year-old has overturned a British Olympic Association by-law which stops athletes found guilty of drug-test offences from competing in future Games. "I was very relieved when I heard the verdict and now I can move on," Ohuruogu said. "I would love to compete for Britain at the Beijing Olympics if I am selected for the team." The Londoner missed three out-of-competition drug tests between October 2005 and July 2006, thus incurring a one-year suspension from UK Athletics.

She returned from that ban in August, and shocked the athletics world by claiming the 400m title at Osaka in Japan. Ohuruogu made her case to a Sports Dispute Resolutions Panel on Monday, where she sought to follow the precedent set by former world triathlon champion Tim Don and judo athlete Peter Cousins, who both successfully appealed against the BOA ban in similar circumstances. Ohuruogu admitted blame for missing the tests for the first time on Sunday, but said it was because she refused to let the officials come to her parents' house where she was living at the time. "I am really happy," she said on Tuesday. "I am not a drugs cheat. I have been tested constantly this year and I have proved I am clean. It has been a stressful time, but the way I ran in Osaka showed that it has not affected me." Her coach Lloyd Cowan added: "I'm so pleased for her, we now just have to move on and get this cloud over our head out of the way. "It's not only wonderful news for Christine but for the nation as well, and as her coach I will be doing everything possible to assist her to win an Olympic medal next summer.

"She is such a humble person, she deserves that success. Now it is a case of walking away from what happened and looking to the future." The BOA said in a statement that there had been sufficient evidence to make an early decision in the appeal. "It was agreed that any delay in making the decision would not be in the interests of any of the involved parties," it said. "The panel decided that Ohuruogu's appeal had been successful due to significant mitigating circumstances." Chief executive Simon Clegg added: "The BOA will now be pleased to welcome Christine Ohuruogu as part of Team GB in Beijing next year in the event of her successful nomination by UK Athletics. "The BOA and the panel both stress that no-advance notice out-of-competition testing is a fundamental part of ensuring an effective fight against doping in sport.

"Athletes must be fully aware of their obligations to keep their whereabouts information up to date at all times, and must ensure that they are available for testing at the designated times and places." E-mail to a friend World Championships: Women’s 400m by Athletics Weekly August 11, 2015 We focus on the women’s 400m as part of our event-by-event look back at the IAAF World Championships The championship best remains the winning time from 1983. In fact only one other winner has come close. The day before, Jarmila Kratochvilova had won the 800m final in 1:54.68 despite having won the 400m semi-final just 30 minutes before. She had a good excuse then not to run fast in the 400m final but if she was tired from the previous six races in three days, it didn’t show as she stormed to a historic barrier-breaking world record of 47.99.

Though she dominated and won by five metres, Tatyana Kocembova held her in the last 100 metres and, suggesting that all Czechoslovakians were using the same training techniques, she became the third fastest woman in history and no future world championships winner has ever bettered her 48.59. Bronze medallist Mariya Pinigina of the Soviet Union went fourth all-time with 49.19, which would have won more than half the later championships. The standard dipped in Rome in 1987. Third at halfway in 23.87 behind two East German athletes, the Soviet Union’s Olga Bryzgina had the much stronger finish to win easily in 49.38. Bryzgina, who was Ukrainian and whose husband Viktor won a sprint relay medal in 1983, returned in Tokyo in 1991 and just missed out on a medal in fourth. It was a pity that, though the entry was well below 40, the organisers deciding there should be four rounds as times were undoubtedly affected.

Despite the previous races, long-legged Marie Jose Perec of France stormed through 200m in 22.82 and 300m in 35.39 and, though she was slowing, her 49.13 was the fastest time in the world for four years. Germany’s Grit Breuer broke the world junior record with 49.42 in second. Perec decided to focus on the sprints in Stuttgart in 1993 and the result was the slowest winning global time for more than 20 years. Jearl Miles was only sixth at 200m in 23.95, but powered through the second half to win in 49.82 from USA team-mate Natasha Kaiser-Brown. Perec was back in Gothenburg in 1995 and had also entered the 400m hurdles but because of a hamstring problem, decided to focus on the flat event. Australian Cathy Freeman, who had beaten Perec in Monaco the previous month, led at 200m in 23.3 to the Frenchwoman’s 23.5.

Perec was level at 300m in 35.7 and eased away to win in 49.28, the fastest time in the world for three years. Pauline Davis and Miles eased past a badly-fading Freeman to take the other medals. Perec won Olympic gold in 1996 and retired, leaving Olympic silver medallist Freeman the marginal favourite for Athens in 1997. By finishing third in her semi-final, albeit with the third overall fastest time, she unluckily drew lane one in the final. Freeman started slowly and was last at 100m and seventh at 200m but moved up to second at 300m, winning in 49.77 but only by two hundredths of a second from Jamaican training partner Sandie Richards, who had been third in 1993. With this victory, Freeman became the first ever Aboriginal world champion and the first 400m runner to win a world title from an unseeded lane. Now married, Jearl Miles-Clark won her third successive medal. Freeman defended her title successfully in Seville in 1999.

After being third at 200m in 23.79, she finished strongly to win in her best time for two years of 49.67. Germany’s Anja Rucker, who had a pre-Seville best of 50.64, pushed her close with 49.74. Katharine Merry, in her first serious year at 400m, achieved the best ever British result at that time with fifth in 50.52 after a 50.21 semi-final. Freeman famously won gold in the Sydney Olympics, with Merry third but neither were in Edmonton in 2001 and gold went to Senegal’s Amy Mbacke Thiam in 49.86 from 1999 bronze medallist Lorraine Fenton’s 49.88. Ana Guevara had led into the straight in Canada but finished third and the Mexican then went unbeaten in 21 finals and was a clear favourite for Paris in 2003.

She shot through 200m in 23.2 and held on to win in 48.89, the world’s quickest for seven years and the second fastest ever world championship-winning time. Fenton, who had previously won bronze in 49.92 and then silver in 49.88, improved to 49.43 but had to be content with another silver. Thiam finished third and Britain’s Lee McConnell was seventh. In Helsinki in 2005, the young American Sanya Richards was a marginal favourite, having run a pre-Championship 49.28 and she led through 200m in 23.5. However, the powerful Olympic champion Tonique Williams-Darling proved strongest and passed her in the last 30 metres to win in 49.55 with Richards’ last 100m of 14.2 just holding off Guevara for second. The latter won her third successive medal. In Osaka in 2007, the favourite was Novlene Williams, who ran 49.66 in her semi-final.

Commonwealth champion Christine Ohuruogu, who had served a one year ban for missing three drugs tests and only returned to racing on the eve of the championships, won one of the other semis. The third was won by European indoor champion Nicola Sanders in a big PB of 49.77. In the final, Williams had a four-metre lead at halfway in 23.37 which was halved at 300m in 35.73 by Russian Natalya Antyukh but both Ohuruogu (36.13) and Sanders (36.17) still had four metres to make up. However, in the straight they passed the Russian and closed on the leader. With five metres to go, all three appeared level but it was Ohuruogu who dipped the best to win in 49.61 from Sanders’ 49.65 and Williams’ 49.66. Guevara signed off her international career with fourth.

Richards, who had competed in the 200m in Osaka and narrowly lost out on 400m Olympic gold in 2008 to the Briton, won her first world title at the age of 24 in Berlin in 2009. The American was narrowly ahead at 200m in 23.50 and held her form well to win in 49.00. Jamaican Shericka Williams became one of the quickest silver medallists with a time of 49.32. Defending champion Ohuruogu wasn’t at her very best but characteristically finished strongly and ran 50.21 for fifth. Moving on to Daegu in 2011, Botswana’s Amantle Montsho, who finished last in the final in Germany, was the fastest in her semi-final. Now married, Sanya Richards-Ross wasn’t fully fit as three-time world 200m champion and fellow American Allyson Felix also won a semi final in 50.36.

In the final Montsho led at 200m in 23.3 from Felix’s 23.4 and pulled a metre further clear on the last bend. Though Felix closed up in the straight, she fell just short with 49.59 to the winner’s 49.56. Richards-Ross was seventh, which was better than the previous champion Ohuruogu, who was disqualified for a false start in her heat. In the 2012 Olympics, Richards-Ross won the 400m from the Briton but Ohuruogu was in even better form in Moscow in 2013. In a classic race, Montsho had a clear lead at 200m as Ohurugu was only in fifth, entering the home straight. However, a fantastic finishing drive and dip saw her catch the African virtually on the line, her cause aided by Montsho inexplicably not dipping herself. Regaining the title was impressive enough, but the bonus was that her time of 49.41 finally erased Kathy Cook’s British record set in 1984 from the books.

Antonina Krivoshapka, who had been third in 2009 and fifth in 2011, again took the bronze medal.

400m Year | Winner | Time | GB position and mark 1983 Jarmila Kratochvilova (TCH) 47.99 6sf Michelle Scutt 51.88 1987 Olga Bryzgina (URS) 49.38 no competitor 1991 Marie-Jose Perec (FRA) 49.13 5sf Lorraine Hanson 50.93 1993 Jearl Miles (USA) 49.82 6sf Linda Keough 52.56 1995 Marie Jose-Perec (FRA) 49.28 4sf Melanie Neef 51.18 1997 Cathy Freeman (AUS) 49.77 6sf Allison Curbishley 51.42 (50.78qf) 1999 Cathy Freeman (AUS) 49.67 5 Katharine Merry 50.52 (50.21sf) 2001 Amy Mbacke Thiam (SEN)

 49.86 6sf Donna Fraser 51.77 2003 Ana Guevara (MEX) 48.89 7 Lee McConnell 51.07 (51.06 sf) 2005 Tonique Williams-Darling (BAH) 49.55 4sf Christine Ohuruogu 51.43 2007 Christine Ohuruogu (GBR) 49.61 2 Nicola Sanders 49.65 2009 Sanya Richards (USA) 49.00 5 Christine Ohuruogu 50.21 2011 Amantle Montsho (BOT) 49.56 6sf Lee McConnell 51.97 2013 Christine Ohuruogu (GBR) 49.41 (Amantle Montsho (BOT) 49.41) Points table (8 for 1st etc) 1.

USA 93 OHURUOGU'S OLYMPIC REPRIEVE DOESN’T OPEN DOOR FOR MILLAR - Cycling Weekly Cycling Weekly 0shares ENECO TOUR / STAGE 1 / WAREMME-EUPEN / 23/08/2007 / MILLAR DAVID / PHOTO LUC CLAESSEN / ISOSPORT The 400 metre world champion Christine Ohuruogu had her lifetime ban from the Olympic Games overturned by the British Olympic Association on appeal earlier this week ? but that won?t set a precedent for David Millar. Ohuruogu served a one-year ban for missing three unannounced dope tests. The runner failed to keep drug-testers from UK Sport up-to-date with her movements and was not where she said she?d be when the testers came calling. The rules state that every athlete must specify an hour each day for five days of each week when they will be available. But the BOA has confirmed that Ohuruogu?s reprieve will not pave the way for David Millar to compete in the 2012 Games in London.

Millar, who admitted taking EPO after being arrested by police in France in June 2004, served a two-year ban for the offence. He returned in time to ride the 2006 Tour de France, and has been an increasingly outspoken advocate of drug-free sport since. This winter he has joined the American Slipstream squad, which has set out a strong anti-doping ethos. While there was never any chance of Millar appealing his lifetime ban from representing Great Britain at the Olympics in time for the 2008 Games, any hopes of racing in London in 2012 appear to have been dashed. A BOA official said the Ohuruogu and Millar cases were completely different. When asked if Millar had any chance of successfully appealing the ban in light of this week?s developments in time for 2012, Louisa Heddy of the BOA said: ?No. It?s a completely different situation. ?He was convicted of a doping offence and served a suspension and under the BOA rules he is banned from representing Great Britain at the Olympics. There won?t be any change in the rules in the future to allow for a successful appeal by an athlete in his situation.?

Ohuruogu the Orient Express | The Independent Ohuruogu the Orient Express Tuesday 19 August 2008 23:00 BST Click to follow The Independent Online Christine Ohuruogu stood on top of the rostrum here last night as Commonwealth, world and Olympic 400 metres champion. She leapt up and down with delight, arms aloft, her face one gigantic smile. And, within seconds, her eyes were full of tears. It was a fitting range of emotion for an athlete whose every triumph, following her one-year ban for failing to be at specified locations for random doping tests on three occasions, generates conflicting reaction. For some, this monumental victory in the steamy heat of Beijing was cause for celebration. For others it was a provocation. The arguments concerning her appearance here have been well rehearsed and had been a year ago after she returned from her suspension to win the world title in Osaka with a similar late charge to the one which saw her prevail yesterday against the flagging American favourite Sanya Richards, having been only fifth turning into the final straight.

Richards, who claimed she felt her hamstring cramp up 80 metres from the finish, said before the Games got under way that Ohuruogu was "fortunate" to be here, having won her appeal to the British Olympic Association against the life ban from the Games it imposes on those who have served doping suspensions. But Ohuruogu is not alone in that respect. Two other Britons preceded her in winning BOA appeals – judo's Peter Cousins, and the triathlete Tim Don, who appeared in his Olympic final here on the same day amid little fuss. The distinction the BOA has made in allowing these three to return to the Olympic fold but keeping a sprinter such as Dwain Chambers out is that the latter has tested positive. Within seconds of crossing the finish line Ohuruogu sprawled back on the track and stared up at the oval of darkening sky above the stadium. As the photographers and cameramen scuttled towards her, and with the arena still alive with acclaim, she was stunned.

This 24-year-old linguistics graduate from Stratford, London, had come a long way from the hesitant figure who ventured into the press room in Manchester after surprising everybody by winning the 2004 Olympic trials. If she thought that was daunting, she could never have imagined what greater exposure lay in store for her. The preparation fashioned with her coach Lloyd Cowan – concentrating on running 200m races early in the season to add speed to her formidable strength – worked, but what told here, as in Osaka, was her ferocious will. As then, she got stronger through the rounds, starting off with a time of 51sec, then moving to 50.14 before reaching last night's high point. That said, her winning time of 49.62sec was the slowest to win an Olympic 400m since 1972. "Lloyd told me the race would be won in the final 15 metres, and that's what I kept thinking about," she said. "As far as I'm concerned you train for the three days of a major championships. You don't train for grand prix events or one-off races.

If you can't prepare yourself for those three days, then what are you wasting your time training for?" For Richards, earning a bronze in 49.93, with Jamaica's Shericka Williams taking silver in 49.69, was a bitter experience. For the last three years she has topped the world rankings without winning any major medals. She missed the 400m at last year's world championships, having failed to qualify in the trials. Now, with 21 of her friends and family there to watch in the stadium, the moment for tangible reward appeared to have come, but in the end it seemed more like ruptured credibility rather than a cramping hamstring that hindered her. "Christine had an awesome finish and I just couldn't hold her off," she said. By the time Ohuruogu came to her press conference her tone was guarded in anticipation of the inevitable questions about her doping infraction. "I don't really care what people think or say," she responded. "As far as I'm concerned I'm here and I've won a gold medal.

I'm happy with what I've done." Asked about the 2012 Olympics that will take place five minutes away from where she was brought up, she responded in measured fashion. "Yes, it's something I've given thought to but it's a long way away. It will be great if I can say I'll be there, but I'll take each year as it comes and deal with it when I get there." Caution is now ingrained in her psyche, but it is the psyche of a great athlete. God, German and netball: the story of Britain's golden swot A bookworm who studies German in her spare time, and whose first sport was not athletics but netball... Christine Ohuruogu is an atypical Olympic gold medallist, even by the eccentric standards of her podium-topping peers. Born 17 May 1984, the second of eight children, she grew up in the Stratford, east London house of her God-fearing Nigerian parents, Jonathan and Patience. Alongside their daughter's obvious and precocious sporting talent – she played Under-17 and Under-19 netball for England – Mr and Mrs Ohuruogu demanded academic success.

Christine obliged, securing the four A levels required to gain entry to University College London. There she wrote her thesis on the etymology of swear words while studying for a degree in linguistics. She graduated with a 2:1. She only began to run competitively at the age of 16, as a distraction from her favourite pastime of reading. She confesses to being a "swot", ravages a book a week (more outside the athletics season), ranging from fiction to the latest heavy political tome. A practising Christian, she still learns German in her spare time. "You have to realise language is alive, it's constantly developing," she says. Clever, then, but, by her own admission, "scatterbrained". Her gold medal run yesterday in the women's 400m final might never have happened. Ohuruogu missed three drugs tests between October 2005 and July 2006 and was banned for one year from British athletics. Relentlessly training through her 12 months off, she marked the expiry of her ban in style.

The Newham and Essex Beagles runner won the World Championships in Osaka, Japan, but it was not until November last year, when the Sports Dispute Resolution Panel overturned the Olympic ban, that the 24 year-old was cleared to compete in Beijing and – crucially – London 2012. Her ascent to Olympic champion has, therefore, not been without hindrances. But the deeper irony is that, through much of her career, the 24-year-old, who was born within a stone's throw of London's 2012 Olympic stadium, has been a natural outsider. Amol Rajan and Rebecca Evans Highs and lows of one-lap queen Born: 17 May, 1984, London Highs: 400m gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. 400m and 4x400m relay gold at the 2007 World Championships. 400m gold at the 2006 Commonwealth Games. 4x400m relay gold at the 2005 World Championships.

Lows: Received a one-year ban after missing three out-of-competition drug tests, two in June 2006 and one in October the previous year. The British Olympic Association in turn banned Ohuruogu from competing for Great Britain at future Olympic Games. An appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport was upheld, although an appeal against her Olympic ban was overturned last November. She threatened to leave Britain and compete for another country if her appeal was unsuccessful. Ohuruogu was also part of the 4x400m relay team at the Commonwealth Games who were disqualified after receiving the baton in the wrong order. More about: ATHLETICS: NAIVE LONDON 2012 FACE HAS RUN OUT OF EXCUSES - Mirror Online News ATHLETICS: NAIVE LONDON 2012 FACE HAS RUN OUT OF EXCUSES CHRISTINE OHURUOGU, the 400m runner who was supposed to be the face of London 2012, says she will quit athletics if her life ban on competing in the Olympic Games is not overturned. Share Get daily updates directly to your inbox + Subscribe Thank you for subscribing!

Could not subscribe, try again laterInvalid Email CHRISTINE OHURUOGU, the 400m runner who was supposed to be the face of London 2012, says she will quit athletics if her life ban on competing in the Olympic Games is not overturned. Well, bye bye Christine and good luck in your new existence away from the sport because you deserve everything you've got. Commonwealth 400m champion Ohuruogu missed not one, not two, but three drug tests and so was suspended from competition for a year and the Olympics for the rest of her career. Far from being in any way penitent about letting herself, her supporters and her country down, Ohuruogu reacted by suggesting she really ought to be above the rules. Her breathtaking arrogance seems to have made her unable to grasp the idea that missing three drug tests leaves a rather nasty odour of suspicion hanging over her. She's supposed to be a bright girl but her attitude in the story she sold to a national newspaper at the weekend suggests she is still dreadfully naive. "That's the really upsetting thing," she said. "I've been tarnished with the same brush as people who have been caught taking drugs." That's right, Christine.

That's the point of having drug tests and why you're supposed to take them. If you don't, no one knows whether you're taking drugs or not and these days, we have to assume the worst. That Ohuruogu doesn't understand that is the saddest part. Perhaps it's got something to do with the fact that she's advised by drugs cheat Linford Christie. Or perhaps it was just that she was lulled into a false sense of security by the culture of celebrity that had begun to surround her. I'm sorry her dreams are in ruins, I'm sorry London 2012 has lost its face, but she has no one to blame but herself. Like us on Facebook Olympic reprieve for Ohuruogu | London Evening Standard Olympic reprieve for Ohuruogu Saturday 20 January 2007 23:10 BST Christine Ohuruogu faces the crushing prospect that her one-year ban from athletics will be upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport later this month.

Sources close to the hearing have indicated that uncompromising evidence from Dr Arne Ljungqvist, the head of anti-doping for the International Association of Athletics Federations,means that Britain's Commonwealth 400m champion's appeal against her ban for missing three drugs tests is almost certain to be rejected. However, Ohuruogu can anticipate some good news as it is likely that the CAS will note that her ban from the Olympic Games, imposed by the British Olympic Association, is unfair. That, at least, will be a boost to the 22-year-old, who lives in Stratford, East London, within sight of the 2012 Olympics site and who feared she might be denied her shot at Olympic glory despite being touted as the face of the 2012 Games. The CAS is currently considering her appeal against the one-year ban imposed by UK Athletics after testers failed to find her at her specified training sites three times in an 18-month period. Ohuruogu accepted that she had missed the tests but pleaded mitigating circumstances and attempted to reduce the ban on appeal because most other sports operate only a three-month ban for such offences.

Britain's world triathlon champion, Tim Don, fell foul of the same rule last year and received only a threemonth ban, which was served in the close season. However, the IAAF rule book clearly states that a one-year ban is applicable and their failure to give any ground in the hearing means that Ohuruogu can now expect the worst. Nevertheless, senior figures at the IAAF do not think that it is appropriate to ban Ohuruogu from the Olympics, especially after her initial hearing ruled that there was no intention to mislead the testers and that there was no suggestion that she took drugs. And while the CAS is not deliberating on the Olympic ban — imposed automatically by the BOA on any British athlete who fails a drugs test — it is expected to recommend that the BOA deal with Ohuruogu's case leniently. The 400m runner will appeal to the BOA to have her Olympic ban overturned and if she has the CAS's backing in addition to the support of World Anti-Doping Agency chairman Dick Pound, who has previously argued against the Olympic ban, she seems certain to succeed. Ohuruogu had previously said she would quit the sport if she could not run in the Olympics.

British judo thrower Peter Cousins last year managed to overturn his Olympic ban after also missing three tests in an 18-month period, although the tribunal hearing the case did insist that their decision should not set a precedent. Athletes who have recorded relatively minor drug offences, such as sprinter Mark Lewis-Francis, who tested positive for cannabis, have had their Olympic bans lifted. Although Ohuruogu's one-year ban would force her to miss the UK trials in July for this year's world championships, UK Athletics could still reserve a place for her to run at the championships in Osaka, Japan, in August, when her ban will be completed. More about: Lizzie Armitstead did not challenge missed drug test until Rio place threatened | Sport | The Guardian Lizzie Armitstead did not challenge missed drug test until Rio place threatened • Armitstead’s reprieve for Olympic Games questioned by fellow athletes • Ukad says British cyclist chose not to contest two ‘whereabouts’ tests Lizzie Armitstead has won her appeal to compete in the Rio Olympics.

Photograph: Ben Duffy/Getty Images Tuesday 2 August 2016 06.12 EDT Last modified on Thursday 25 August 2016 14.33 EDT Close This article is 6 months old Lizzie Armitstead did not challenge a missed drug test from 2015 until she faced an 11th-hour ban from the Olympics for missing three controls, UK’s anti‑doping federation has said. Drug testers from UK Anti-Doping (Ukad) could not find the world road race champion on three occasions during the past year, resulting in an automatic suspension from the sport pending an independent review into whether she had violated doping rules. Lizzie Armitstead wins court appeal to compete at Rio 2016 Olympics Read more The first missed “whereabouts” test came on 20 August last year, with the second on 5 October 2015 and the third on 9 June this year. It was only after Ukad brought its charge against the 27-year-old on 11 July this year that she decided to challenge the first missed test by bringing a case to the court of arbitration for sport, which overturned the decision on Monday.

She said the August violation occurred after she had her phone on silent at her team hotel during the UCI Women’s Road World Cup in Sweden, but that testers should easily have been able to find her when they arrived at the location and simply did not look for her properly. Armitstead, who won silver in the London Olympics in 2012 , accepts responsibility for missing the October and July tests. She blames a “filing failure caused by an administrative oversight” for the former, her spokeswoman said, with the second due to “an emergency change of plans due to a serious illness within her family”. In a statement Armitstead told the Daily Mail: “I did think about it [challenging the first ‘failure’]. But the reason I didn’t was because it was my first strike and it was very close to the world championships, so I was travelling to America. I also didn’t have the legal advice. It felt very much them against me. I was very naive. I went ahead to the World Championships and I didn’t want the distraction.” She admitted the prospect of being banned had left her in turmoil. “I felt like I was standing on a cliff and I was going to fall off the edge,” she said.

“It was more than just missing the Olympics in Rio. It was everything else. It was what was going on with my family. I was more concerned about my reputation and people’s understanding of it. I could have been banned. That’s what I was most scared about. All the hard work being for nothing. It was basically my livelihood and my sport being taken away from me. It was everything. A black line.” On Tuesday the Ukad chief executive, Nicole Sapstead, said: “Ms Armitstead chose not to challenge the first and second whereabouts failures at the time they were asserted against her. At the Cas hearing, Ms Armitstead raised a defence in relation to the first whereabouts failure, which was accepted by the panel. We are awaiting the reasoned decision from the Cas panel as to why the first whereabouts failure was not upheld.” Armitstead, who is from Otley in Yorkshire, says she did not cheat and that Ukad did not follow the proper procedure. “I was tested in competition the day after this test, reinforcing my position that I do not cheat and had no intention of not being tested,” she said in a statement on Tuesday. Her suspension was lifted on 21 July following her successful appeal to Cas.

Nicole Cooke, who won gold in Beijing in the women’s road race, appeared to show little sympathy for Armitstead. In a blog post Cooke said she only missed one test in 14 years of competition, because her car broke down. “I learnt from it, as others do,” she said, citing the sprinter Mark Cavendish and Tour de France winner Chris Froome as other cyclists who took full responsibility for missing a test each. Cooke said she previously considered Ukad’s testing scheme to be “too permissive a regime, allowing the drug cheats too much latitude”. She said she was assured that any athlete who made too many last-minute changes to their whereabouts would draw more targeted testing. She said sports people simply wanted a level playing field. “Fair rules to be applied fairly, at all times, to all athletes.” Other athletes questioned how this could have happened, with the former British Olympic rowing gold medallist Zac Purchase posting on Twitter : “Given huge amount of resources @ their disposal, having multiple missed tests/filing failure is a monumental cockup!

Imagine what we would be saying if she was Russian … #NotWorthIt #KeepSportClean.” The Tour de France winner Chris Froome, who is aiming for gold in the road race on Saturday and in the time trial, would not comment in detail on Armitstead’s case. “In Lizzie’s case, to be honest with you I got in late last night. I heard about it, but I haven’t followed the details. I don’t think it’s appropriate for me to comment on it,” he said. “We’re here at the Games, something like what we’re about to do now, especially me with the road race and the time-trial, I’m completely focused on that now”. Froome agreed it “must be hard” for Armitstead. He said he hadn’t had any more missed tests since he admitted having missed two in his career last year. “In a case like Lizzie’s the rules are there and the authorities have all the information to make the right decisions. Everyone wants to see a clean Games and we hope the authorities have made the right decision,” he said. “I’ve missed two I think in my whole career.

Every case is different and I don’t want to comment on the circumstances of Lizzie.” Rochelle Gilmore, an Australian former professional who now manages the women’s team Wiggle High 5, said: “In the year leading up to the Olympics I’d have thought Lizzie would have had it as a higher priority and had people looking out for it for her when she makes a move. Personally I think the system is a little bit too much stress for an athlete. I wish we could opt to have a chip that locates your whereabouts, whether in a bracelet or necklace or in your phone. It’s a lot of responsibility for an athlete who is really under a lot of pressure to remember those things in the heat of the moment.” The Canadian three-time former Olympian cross-country mountain biker Geoff Kabush added : “1st test understandable but I’d be hyper aware about missing 2nd. If I missed 2nd there is no chance I’d miss 3rd??? So many questions. How is World Champ suspended for 3 weeks and no one knows?

Why did British Cycling fund appeal?” When British Cycling executives heard that Armitstead, one of its top medal hopes for Rio, may be banned from the Games, it commissioned independent legal advice to assess its position. If an athlete fails three in the space of 12 months they face up to a two-year suspension. Christine Ohuruogu, the 400m runner, served a year-long ban a decade ago after missing three tests. With British Cycling coaches privately accepting that the squad is unlikely to win as many medals as four years ago, Armitstead is a crucial team member, having won not only the world championship in September but also key races like the Aviva Women’s Tour, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and the Tour of Flanders. “We paid for legal advice on our own position because there were a number of considerations as she was going through the Olympic selection process and was a podium athlete,” said a British Cycling spokesman. “That legal advice was shared with Lizzie and her team.

Lizzie herself funded the actual appeal to Cas” It costs a minimum of 1,000 Swiss francs [£781] for an appeal to be registered with Cas, with costs rising up as high as 50,000 CHF [£39,091] in complicated cases . The spokesman admitted that British Cycling had made contingency plans for the road race without Armitstead, but declined to say who would have been de facto leader in the world champion’s absence. The Guardian understands that Dani King, who won gold in the velodrome in London 2012 but got dropped from the British Cycling programme after a crash, would have been brought in as first reserve. Despite Armitstead’s protestations that Ukad drug testers had not followed their own rules properly, the chief executive Sapstead issued a robust defence of the programme, pointing out that extensive support was available to athletes to play by the rules. Pinterest Lizzie Armitstead said: ‘I have always been and will always be a clean athlete.’ Photograph: SWpix.com/Rex/Shutterstock “UK Anti-Doping recognises that athletes can make mistakes and that plans can change at short notice.

We therefore provide a huge amount of support to athletes throughout their time on the Whereabouts programme to ensure the information they provide is accurate and submitted in a timely manner. This includes providing athletes with a dedicated member of staff to provide ongoing guidance and training on their Whereabouts responsibilities. We also offer athletes a variety of whereabouts tools, including a dedicated website and a free mobile app, so they can easily update their whereabouts wherever they are in the world. Athletes can even text or email changes to us in an emergency. On top of this, Ukad provides additional, escalating support to athletes who incur whereabouts failures which is tailored to their specific needs,” she said. “It is important to note that we will not publicly disclose provisional suspensions, or disclose details of cases, until an anti-doping rule violation has deemed to have been committed, at which point information will be published on our website. This is to ensure that the rights and privacy of everyone involved are respected and to ensure the case is not unnecessarily prejudiced.” This is the third serious leak to hit British Cycling in recent months, following the controversial departure of the former head coach, Shane Sutton , who was embroiled in a sexism row.

In April, someone told the Daily Mail that Simon Yates, a professional rider who is also on British Cycling’s podium programme, was facing a ban for violating anti-doping rules. Then last month the roster for the Olympic squad was leaked to the same newspaper, several days before the team was due to be unveiled. Athlete Profile 2004 – AAA Championships 400m gold 2005 – AAA U23 Championships 400m goold, AAA Championships 400m silver 2006 – AAA Indoor Championships 60m silver, 200m silver, AAA U23 Championships silver 2008 – Olympic Trials 200m silver 2009 – Aviva World Trials 400m gold 2011 – Aviva World Trials 400m bronze 2012 – Aviva Olympic Trials & UK Championships 400m gold 2013 – Sainsbury's British Championships 400m gold.

British Athletics European Indoor Trials & UK Championships 60m 7th sf, 200m silver Major Championships and International Record 2013 – IAAF World Championships 400m gold, 4x400m bronze. European Indoor Championships 4x400m gold 2012 – Olympic Games 400m silver. IAAF World Indoor Championships 4x400m gold 2011 – IAAF World Chapionships 400m DQ ht, (4x400m 4th) 2009 – IAAF World Championships 400m 5th. World Athletics Final 400m 6th 2008 – Olympic Games 400m gold (4x400m 5th). World Athletics Final 400m silver 2007 – IAAF World Championships 400m gold, (4x400m bronze).

World Athletics Final 400m silver 2006 – Commonwealth Games 400m gold, (4x400m DQ) 2005 – IAAF World Championships 400m 4th sf, (4x400m bronze). European U23 Championships 400m silver, (4x400m silver) 2004 – Olympic Games 400m 4th sf 400m (4x400m 4th) 2003 – European Junior Championships 400m bronze The Newham & Essex Beagle was a former England netball player and atter picking up a bronze medal at the 2003 European Junior Championships she focussed solely on athletics. This decision was vindicated as she lowered her lifetime best from 54.21 to 52.20 in her first race of 2004, before reducing it again to 50.98 at the Olympic Trials which qualified her for the Olympic Games.

At the age of 20, Ohuruogu performed impressively, taking another 0.48 seconds from her lifetime best in the heats, but missed the Olympic final by a meagre margin. In 2005, Ohuruogu anchored the British 4x400m relay team to a bronze medal at the World Championships in Helsinki, but it was at the 2006 Commonwealth Games where Christine really came to the fore. The Londoner eased through her heat and semi-final, but it was thought that Ohuruogu would be no match for the world and Olympic champion Tonique Williams-Darling. But with her trademark home straight charge, the 24-year-old upset the Bahamian to take the victory in a PB of 50.28. Soon after though, things turned sour as it was announced on the eve of the 2006 European Championships that she would be banned for one year and also from the Olympic Games, due to three missed out of competition drug tests.

Amidst much controversy, Ohuruogu was still named in the British squad for the World Championships in Osaka and only days after the ban ended, Christine delivered a solid performance at the Scottish Championships, before flying out with the British team to the holding camp in Macau and in the warm-up meeting on August 23, Ohuruogu showed she was perhaps a potential finalist with a 50.56 clocking, but nobody could have predicted the outcome of the next five days. In the heats in Osaka, Christine eased to a victory, in another season’s best of 50.46 (her second fastest ever 400m at the time) and in the semi-final, Ohuruogu improved to 50.16, but many people still considered Nicola Sanders as the slight favourite ahead of her compatriot. In a thrilling final, Ohuruogu judged her finish to perfection, overhauling Jamaica’s Novlene Williams and holding off Sanders in the closing stages for a shock gold medal in another lifetime best of 49.61, to move her to third on the British all-time list behind Kathy Cook and Katherine Merry.

She successfully appealed against her Olympic ban and this was overturned in November 2007. In the 2008 campaign, Ohuruogu was focusing solely on the Olympic Games and unlike many of her rivals, the Lloyd Cowan-coached athlete raced very sparingly prior to the Olympic Games and a season’s best of 50.80 prior to Beijing left people unconvinced about her fitness. However, Christine looked supreme in her heat and in the semi-final, she imposed herself on the rest of the field, blasting to a season’s best of 50.14. Many still believed Sanya Richards remained the pre-race favourite, as she broke the 50-second barrier in her semi-final, but in the final Ohuruogu had the advantage with Richards being on her outside. For the third successive championships, the 24-year-old gauged he finish to perfection to take the title.

2009 was not to be her best year and dogged by injury she did well to make the World Championship final and finish in fifth place while 2010 started off promisingly with a 50.88 clocking in May in Doha but yet again injury beset her yet again and she had to miss both the European Championships and Commonwealth Games. 2011 proved to be another disappointing year culminating in disqualification after a rare false start in the World Championships in Daegu. If there were any doubt about her credentials or ability to compete at the highest level, she proved those doubters wrong in the Olympic 400m final where she timed her peak to almost perfection with a silver medal and her only sub-50 clocking of the season. However, in 2013 at the IAAF World Championships she produced the run of her life, not only taking the title, but also breaking Kathy Cook's long-standing British record. Best known performances

Question: Which world champion 400m runner successfully overturned her Olympic Games ban for missing drug tests?
Answer: Christine Ohuruogu