Sanya looks formidable

The Christine Ohuruogu-Sanya Richards face-off in the 400m final in Beijing should set off a few sparks, writes Avinash Nair.

The men’s 100 metres could be the ultimate showdown in Beijing, but on a lesser scale, the fight between Sanya Richards (USA) and Christine Ohuruogu (Great Britain) in the women’s 400 metres could well set off a few sparks.

Sanya, 23, a two-time winner of the World Woman Athlete of the Year award, has had a string of success in the run-up to the Beijing Olympics and is the hot favourite to win the 400m.

Sanya, born in Kingston, Jamaica, and residing in Austin, Texas, was diagnosed with Behcet’s Syndrome and had to miss out on six starts early last season. However, she came back strongly in the latter part of the year to pocket a cool half a million dollars with a string of Golden League Series victories.

With a personal best of 48.70s, Sanya looks quite formidable in the one-lap event and her recent success in the 200m at the Gaz de Francea, in a photo finish against Muna Lee and Carmelita Jeter, only adds to her persona.

With a 4x400m relay gold in Athens, Sanya knows what it means to be in an Olympics final. Having won accolades and titles in both the 200m and the 400m since the age of 17 — she was awarded the Female Collegiate Athlete of the Year in 2003 — Sanya became the youngest woman to run under 49 seconds in the one-lap event. She also holds several US outdoor and indoor records.

The current world champion, Ohuruogu, born in East London to a Nigerian couple, surprisingly has just two 400m runs to her credit this season. “I’m more into 200m and the 100m is to test my explosive speed,” she said.

Just 24 days after serving a one-year suspension for missing three out-of-competition dope tests, Ohuruogu went onto win the 400m at the Osaka World Championship in August last year. Incidentally, Ohuruogu even contemplated (though in jest) running for another nation if the British Olympic Association (BOA) did not overturn her ban.

Ohuruogu, a semifinalist in Athens in the 400m, went on to win the gold at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games in 2006. Earlier, she had won a silver medal at the European Under-23 Championship.

In Osaka Ohuruogu upstaged team-mate Nicola Sanders for the gold.

Having won the third discretionary berth in the team, she looks set to realise her dream of winning at the Olympics.