OK it was only for three seconds, but this morning I held an Olympic gold medal in my hands, and not just any old gold, but an athletics gold for a blistering run by Christine Ohuruogu in the womens 400m at last year’s games.
I’ve written before about my obsession with athletics (see Star Struck at the British Athletics awards blog), so this was quite a moment. It happened in the green room at GMTV this morning. Christine was on just before me, and I was a little too shy to say hello beforehand. When I came back from doing my slot she was still there with her agent, and the medal – which’d been shown on the programme – was on the sofa next to me, so I couldn’t resist asking if I could take a peek.
It has its own presentation case and a box inside. The medal itself has a gold centre, and then a ceramic disk, and another gold centre. I’ve grabbed a pic off the web of the type below…
As a little boy I dreamed of being in the Olympics, and by the age of 10 I realised I had more chance of writing about them than taking part, but it didn’t stop my fascination. So today, holding the medal in my hand was just wonderful. Thank you Christine.
