Marilyn Chinwenwa Okoro (born 23 September 1984, in London) is a British

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

athlete. She finished third in the

800 metres The 800 metres, or meters ( US spelling), is a common track running event. It is the shortest commonly run middle-distance running event. The 800 metres is run over two laps of an outdoor (400-metre) track and has been an Olympic event since th ...

at both the

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto ...

and 2008 IAAF World Athletics Final. She was on the bronze winning

4 × 400 m relay 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smalles ...

at the

2007 World Championships in Athletics The 11th World Championships in Athletics, () under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), were held at Nagai Stadium in Osaka, Japan from 24 August to 2 September 2007. 200 of the IAAF's 212 member federa ...

. She represented Great Britain at the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008 and finished sixth (1:59.53 mins) in the semi-finals. She was part of the 4 × 400 m relay team which finished fifth in the final of the 2008 Summer Olympics although the team was later upgraded to bronze medal position following disqualification for doping offences of the teams finishing in third and fourth place. She attended

Stowe School , motto_translation = I stand firm and I stand first , established = , closed = , type = Public school Independent school, day & boarding , religion = Church of England , president = , head_label = Headmaster ...

, Buckinghamshire, and on 26 June 2007 graduated from the

University of Bath (Virgil, Georgics II) , mottoeng = Learn the culture proper to each after its kind , established = 1886 (Merchant Venturers Technical College) 1960 (Bristol College of Science and Technology) 1966 (Bath University of Technology) 1971 (univ ...

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 A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

800 m final in

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

. 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. Osaka07 D9A W4-400M UK celebrating

Marilyn 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 Jemma Louise Simpson OLY (born 10 February in Plymouth) is a British athlete who competes in the 800 metres and 1500 metres. She is a former British champion over 800m, winning both 2007, 2009 and 2010 British Championships. She was formerly c ...

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 Lee McConnell (born 9 October 1978) is a retired Scottish athlete, who competed in the 400 metres and 400 metres hurdles having started her career as a high jumper. She is a three-time Olympian who represented Great Britain in 2004, 2008 and 2 ...

and

Perri Shakes-Drayton Peirresha Alexandra Shakes-Drayton (born 21 December 1988) is a British retired track and field athlete. After specialising in the 400 metres hurdles in the early part of her career, a knee injury at the 2013 World Championships forced Shakes- ...

, 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 #REDIRECT Charles van Commenee {{R from other capitalisation Redirects from other capitalisations ...

, who described Okoro's performance in the 800 m at the

2009 European Athletics Indoor Championships The 2009 European Athletics Indoor Championships was held in Turin, Italy, from Friday, 6 March to Sunday, 8 March 2009. The championships took place at the Oval Lingotto indoor arena

as "naive and unprofessional" despite not ever coaching the 800m. 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, moving to the USA and was coached by

Johnny Gray John Lee Gray Jr. (born June 19, 1960) is a retired American world class 800 meter runner from the mid-1980s to the late 1990s and the holder of the 600m world best. A four-time-Olympian (1984-1996) in 1985 he set the US record of 1:42.60 at a ...

Olympic Bronze Medalist and the then American Record Holder. Her training partners included Team USA's Maggey Vessey and US #2 Duane Soloman. She represented Team England at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, where she ran in the semi-final of the 800m.

References

External links

* *
June 2014 interview with Marilyn from her USA training base
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Okoro, Marilyn 1984 births Living people Athletes from London British female middle-distance runners English female middle-distance runners Olympic female middle-distance runners Olympic athletes of Great Britain Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games competitors for England Athletes (track and field) at the 2006 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) Universiade bronze medalists for Great Britain Medalists at the 2005 Summer Universiade World Athletics Championships athletes for Great Britain World Athletics Championships medalists European Athletics Championships medalists British Athletics Championships winners Alumni of the University of Bath People educated at Abbot's Hill School People educated at Stowe School English people of Nigerian descent Black British sportswomen Team Bath track and field athletes