Olympic champion Christine Ohuruogu returned to action with a victory at the Aviva British Grand Prix on Sunday.
Olympic heroine notches seventh straight success
Olympic champion Christine Ohuruogu extended her unbeaten streak to seven races with victory at the Aviva British Grand Prix in Gateshead on Sunday.
Ohuruogu home in the 400 metres in a time of 51.27 seconds ahead of America's Mary Wineberg (51.44) and domestic rival Nicola Sanders (51.79).
"It means so much that so many people stayed behind in the rain to watch me today," said Ohuruogu, who was running for the first time since striking gold in Beijing.
"It was tough to come out and perform but I'm so glad I did and have the opportunity to thank them."
Idowu flops
Britain's other athletics medallists in Beijing were also in action in wet conditions in front of a disappointing 7,000 crowd.
Germaine Mason followed up his Olympic silver by winning the high jump with a height of 2.27metres, his victims included reigning world champion Donald Thomas who placed seventh.
But an out-of-sorts Phillips Idowu managed only fourth place in the triple jump with a best effort of just 16.42m.
"I've been ill all week with a cold and a sore throat, but once I warmed up I felt better, but it wasn't there," said Idowu, who took silver in Beijing.
Tasha Danvers ran 55.61s in the 400m hurdles to equal her third place in Beijing as Jamaica's Olympic champion Melanie Walker won in 54.51s ahead of last summer's world bronze medallist Anna Jesien of Poland who finished in 55.35s.
Apart from the Beijing medallists' displays there were also some solid British victories from athletes who should still be around for London 2012.
Goldie Sayers won the javelin with a distance of 61.62m while Lisa Dobriskey, fourth at the Olympics, used her sprint finish to take the 1,500m in four minutes 09.68 seconds.
Rooney on target
Martyn Rooney won the 400m in 45.35s, while Marilyn Okoro with a second sub-two minute outing in 48 hours led from gun to tape to take the 800m in one minute 59.48seconds.
Asafa Powell a dejected fifth in the Olympic final, returned to winning form with a brilliant 100m victory in a blazing 9.87s.
"I'm delighted to go sub-10, especially considering the conditions," said the Jamaican who equalled his then world record on the same track two years ago.
Kenenisa Bekele, who completed a 5,000m and 10,000m double in Beijing, produced a storming final lap of his 3,000m race to win in a world-leading time and stadium record.
World 100m and 200m champion Tyson Gay, whose Olympic ambitions were wrecked when he could not return to race fitness after a hamstring injury, missed the stadium record in the longer sprint by 0.03s with a time of 20.25s.
American Lauryn Williams clipped the wings of Jamaica's Olympic 100m champion Shelly Ann Fraser by 0.05s in a time of 11.24s and then took the 200m in 22.65s.
