Athlete and Fashion: Marilyn Okoro

Marilyn Okoro biography

Jazz singer, human rights campaigner and emerging international 800m star – Marilyn Okoro is multi-talented.

The Shaftesbury Barnet Harrier was born in London to Nigerian parents and is good friends with Britain’s 400m world champion Christine Ohuruogu, another Londoner of Nigerian stock.

Marilyn’s father was a doctor who spent the bulk of his time in the USA while her mother moved between Nigeria and England.

An accomplished lacrosse player, reaching junior England level, Okoro took up athletics on the recommendation of her PE teacher, Mrs Phillips.

She initially featured as a sprinter, winning the 2003 AAA Under-20 400m title and the AAA Under-23 title the following year. However, under her first coach George Harrison she was starting to flirt with the 800m and finished fourth over that distance at the AAA Championships.

Okoro, a politics and French graduate from the University of Bath, enjoyed more success over 800m in 2005: she finished sixth at the National Championships before posting a lifetime best of 2:01.90 to win bronze at the World University Games in Turkey.

She started the 2006 season in fine form, setting a new PB – 2:00.84 – in the Commonwealth Games semi-finals in March before finishing seventh in the final. She missed out on the European Championships 800m after winding up fifth at the National Championships. but had the consolation of winning a place in the Great Britain 400m team.

The versatile Okoro performed with distinction, setting a 400m PB – 52.02 – to reach the semi-finals.

Okoro enjoyed an encouraging indoor season in 2007, landing the national 800m title in Sheffield and finishing fourth at the European Indoor Championships. Now coached by Ayo Falola, she qualified for the 800m at the World Championships but was eliminated inthe semi-finals, placing fourth in 1:59.63. She then ran the second leg of the 4x400m and helped the GB quartet win a bronze medal and set a national record of 3:20.04.

Later that year she smashed her 800m PB – 1:58.76 – to finish third at the IAAF World Athletics Final less than a second behind world champion Janeth Jepkosgei of Kenya.

The 2008 campaign started promisingly as she captured the UK 800m title and recorded an impressive personal best of 1:58.45 to win the big pre-Olympic meeting at Crystal Palace. However, she disappointed on the big occasion in Beijing and was eliminated in the 800m semi-finals in the Bird's Nest Stadium. She at least had the satisfaction of ending her season on a high, finishing third for the second successive season at the World Athletics Final in Stuttgart.

During the 2009 indoor season she posted a personal best of 1:59.27 on the boards in Birmingham but ran a tactically naive race and finished fifth in the 800m final at the European Indoor Championships in Turin. Okoro at least earned the consolation of winning a silver medal as part in the Great Britain 4x400m team less than two hours later.

Marilyn Okoro