Marilyn Okoro

Marilyn Okoro

Okoro at the 2009 FBK Games
Personal information
Born	(1984-09-23) 23 September 1984 London, England
Sport
Country	Great Britain
Club	Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers
Turned pro	2006
Achievements and titles
Highest world ranking	800 m': 7 (2008)
Personal best	800 m 1:58.45
Medal record Representing Great Britain Women's athletics World Championships 2007 Osaka 4x400 m relay IAAF World Athletics Final 2007 Stuttgart 800 m 2008 Stuttgart 800 m European Championships 2010 Barcelona 4x400 m relay European Indoor Championships 2009 Torino 4x400 m relay 2011 Paris 4x400 m relay 2011 Paris 800m
Updated on 11 October 2008.

Marilyn Chinwenwa Okoro (born 23 September 1984 in London) is a British track and field athlete. She finished third in the 800 metres at both the 2007 and 2008 IAAF World Athletics Final. She was on the bronze winning 4 × 400 m relay at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics. She represented Great Britain at the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008 and finished sixth (1:59.53 mins) in the semi-finals.

She attended Stowe School, Buckinghamshire, and on 26 June 2007 graduated from the University of Bath with a B.A. degree in Politics and French, then starting her first season as a full-time athlete. She speaks four languages (English, French, Spanish and Igbo) and sings in the jazz band The Felonius Monks.

Marilyn suffered an injury plagued 2009 outdoor season, though she battled through the pain barrier to finish a very credible 8th in the World Championships 800 m final in Berlin. Okoro was also included in the squad for the 4 × 400 m, but was not selected in the line-up to run in the final. During the 2009 winter Okoro, along with training partner Montell Douglas had major knee surgery to try to eradicate the problems that hit her '09 track season. There has been some criticism that the Lee Valley track produces more injuries than championship performances.

Okoro (second left) at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka with Christine Ohuruogu, Lee McConnell and Nicola Sanders

Marilyn has had a limited race schedule in 2010, but returned to a degree of form when taking bronze at the UK championships. Subsequently Okoro was selected to challenge for a medal in the 800 m alongside Jenny Meadows and Jemma Simpson at the 2010 European Championships in Barcelona. She finished 4th in her semi-final, therefore did not progress to the final. Okoro recovered from that disappointment to run the second leg in the 4 × 400 bronze medal winning quartet alongside Nicola Sanders, Lee McConnell and Perri Shakes-Drayton, clocking 52.0 seconds for her leg. She also ran in the heat running 51.8 seconds. Vicki Barr replaced Shakes-Drayton in the heats.

Okoro has been criticised heavily for her front running tactics, most notably by UK Athletics head coach Charles Van Commenee, who described Okoro's performance in the 800 m at the 2009 European Athletics Indoor Championships as "naive and unprofessional". Following her non-selection for the 800 m event at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Okoro accused Van Commenee of being "a bit of a bully."

Marilyn changed coaches during 2013, and then made the decision to move to the USA to be coached by legendary American middle-distance runner Johnny Gray at the University of Central Florida.

She represented Team England at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, competing in the 800m.

External links

• Marilyn Okoro at World Athletics
• Marilyn's Rising Star profile on spikesmag.com
• June 2014 interview with Marilyn from her USA training base