Chrissy O was instrumental in launching the Aviva Athletics Academy in 2009. As an Olympian, she is an inspiration to children of all abilities and levels.
She puts her Olympic success down to the support of her large family and we are proud to have her in the Aviva family.
A member of Newham and Essex Beagles Athletics Club, Chrissy O was a former England netball player. However, after picking up a bronze medal at the 2003 European Junior Championships, she decided to focus solely on athletics. This decision was vindicated as she improved her lifetime best over 400m from 54.21 seconds to 52.20 seconds in her first race of 2004, before breaking it again to record 50.98 seconds at the Olympic trials, to qualify for the Olympic Games. At the age of 20, Chrissy O performed impressively, slicing another 0.48 seconds off her lifetime best in the heats, but she missed out on the Olympic final by a meagre margin.
In 2005, Chrissy O anchored the British 4x400m women’s relay team to a bronze medal at the World Championships in Helsinki, but it was at the 2006 Commonwealth Games where she really came to the fore. The Londoner eased through her heat and semi-final, but few thought that Chrissy O would be a 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 personal best of 50.28 seconds. 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 for missing three out of competition drug tests. The British Olympic Association also handed her a lifelong ban on representing Britain at the Olympic Games. She successfully appealed against her Olympic ban and it was overturned in November 2007.
Amidst much controversy, Chrissy O was still named in the British squad for the World Championships in Osaka. Only days after her one-year competitive ban ended, Chrissy O delivered a solid performance at the Scottish Championships, before flying out with the British team to the holding camp in Macau. In the warm-up meeting on August 23, Chrissy O showed she was perhaps a potential finalist, clocking 50.56 seconds, but nobody could have predicted the outcome of the next five days.
In the heats in Osaka, Chrissy O eased to victory in another season’s best of 50.46 seconds (her second fastest ever 400m at the time). In the semi-final, Chrissy O improved her time to 50.16, but many people still considered Nicola Sanders as the slight favourite ahead of her compatriot. In a thrilling final, Chrissy O 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. Her gold-medal winning time moved her to third on the British all-time list behind Kathy Cook and Katherine Merry.
In the 2008 campaign, Chrissy O focused solely on the Olympic Games and, unlike many of her rivals, raced very sparingly prior to the Olympic Games. Indeed, a season’s best of 50.80 seconds prior to Beijing left many unconvinced about her fitness. However, Chrissy O looked supreme in her heat. In the semi-final, she imposed herself on the rest of the field, blasting to a season’s best of 50.14. American Sanya Richards remained the pre-race favourite, especially after breaking the 50-second barrier in her semi-final, but in the final Chrissy O had the advantage with Richards running in a lane on her outside. For the third successive championships, the 24-year-old gauged her effort perfectly, passing a wallowing Richards in the final 80m to claim Great Britain’s only Olympic gold medal in athletics in Beijing. Chrissy O was also named as the British Athlete of the Year for the second successive season.
In 2009, Chrissy O started the season well with a personal best of 22.85 seconds over 200m in Hengelo, Netherlands. Although her early 400m showing was not fantastic, most people thought she would peak for the World Championships in Berlin. However, injuries and illnesses meant that she reached Berlin in less than top form and, after making the final, she ran a season's best for fifth place in 50.21 seconds. After Berlin, she ran well for second place at the Brussels Grand Prix and, although she had a disappointing run at the World Athletics Final in Thessalonika, she finished the season on a high with UK record over 150m at the Great North City Games in Gateshead on the 150 metre straight track.
Chrissy O, who studied linguistics at University College in London, was awarded the MBE in the 2009 honours lists. She has a talented younger sister, Victoria, who is winning many age-group championships and holds the UK Under 15 300m record of 40.25.
Supporting British athletes since 1999
