Golden Christine Ohuruogu: We need sports role models for girls put off by superwomen

 
World 400m Champion and British Record holder Christine Ohuruougu MBE joined children from Stoke Newington School, and leading representatives from Hackney Council, UK Athletics, England Athletics and Sport England in launching a first of its kind athletics Olympic legacy facility in Hackney today.
GLENN COPUS
Sian Boyle20 September 2013

Olympic gold medallist and athletics World Champion Christine Ohuruogu has criticised the lack of “accessible” sporting role models for young girls who could be intimidated by elite female athletes.

Speaking at a first-of-its-kind athletics facility at a Hackney school, Ohuruogu said that girls should see the immediate benefits of sport rather than feeling that they should become professional athletes.

“At a lot of the schools I’ve been to there are girls who appreciate sport but their feeling is ‘that’s not for me’. The role models are the elite of the elite, almost superwomen, who may intimidate girls so they don’t even bother. Someone a level down would be more accessible,” she said.

Ohuruogu said getting young people into sport was a long-term goal. “If we can get even five girls out of 50 playing sport then that’s still five more than if we hadn’t tried.”

A year on from the Games, only 38 per cent of girls do the recommended hour of moderate or vigorous exercise a day compared with 68 per cent of boys, and facilities such as Stoke Newington School’s world-class athletics venue are intended to change this.

Ohuruogu, who won the 400m silver at London 2012 and gold at Beijing 2008, opened the venue, which has a 60m track, a long jump pit, high jump mat and heavy throws. It will be available to pupils, athletics clubs and members of the local community. Hannah Bladen of Sport England said: “It’s quite scary for a lot of young people to go to a full blown athletics track, but something like this is a good stepping stone — they can try athletics here, learn the basics and get confident.” Hackney council, UK Athletics, England Athletics and Sport England worked together on the £300,000 facility. The cost is just over a third that of a regular athletics track and it uses limited space within a built-up area.

Hackney previously had no athletics facilities. Shadow minister for sport Clive Efford said: “This could be an example that we could repeat in a lot of places because it’s doable and it’s affordable.”

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