Christine Ohuruogu knows what is coming. “Don't make this the face of 2012,” The Sun demanded when she became world champion last year. “Triumph or travesty?” The Independent added as London's former pin-up girl was strung up.

“Whether anyone wants to support me or not doesn't really bother me,” she said yesterday. “I know I never stop working and that is enough to make me happy. I have learnt to respect what I do.”

The story so far: she missed three drugs tests in eight months and so served a year's ban; she was also banned from the Olympic Games under the same bylaw that did for Dwain Chambers, but she appealed and won; she went to Osaka, Japan, for the World Championships three weeks after her ban expired and won a remarkable gold medal in the 400 metres. Cue caveats and brickbats.

Her brother phoned her as she celebrated and told her to expect the worst. “I did not realise what people were saying until he rang and naturally it upset me,” Ohuruogu said. “I was glad he told me as I could prepare myself. I did not expect it and I did not think it was very nice.”

The headlines have meant that, since last year's World Championships, Ohuruogu has often come across as guarded and suspicious. As she prepares for the Aviva London Grand Prix in Crystal Palace, South London, this weekend, she gave her most candid assessment of the past year. “We kind of go through life saying, 'Why me? Why me? Why has this happened to me?' But at the end of the day, why not me? Why should it be someone else?”

She now believes that there are no excuses. The publicity generated by her case means that the “where-abouts” system, by which athletes have to say where they will be for an hour a day, is a daily routine. No one wants to be the next Ohuruogu. “I am hoping it has woken people up to the situation because I do not think anyone ever thought it would get serious like that,” she said. “But it did and everyone knows the consequences. The 'whereabouts' is now part of what we do. It is not an add-on. It is part of our lifestyle.”

Her critics claim that she did not have an excuse. The second strike came when she was writing an article for a charity newspaper at home in Stratford, East London, and the tester turned up at her gym in Northwick Park, North West London. She may have been in the wrong, but a degree of flexibility, allowing a tester to wait at the designated place for more than the allotted hour, may have averted the saga.

The third strike came when she changed training venues because of a school sports day. She should have informed the authorities but said that she had a lot on her mind - a sore Achilles, a photo shoot and, having just passed her driving test, a fear of driving on the A12. That widespread ambivalence to testing reflected badly on Ohuruogu and UK Athletics, which now sends daily reminders to athletes on two missed tests.

However, while craving a new generation of champions, should the best in Britain be forced off track by a school sports day? When London 2012 officials talk of legacy, they may consider which comes first, the chicken or the egg and spoon race. “I am generally not a disorganised person, but I am very busy,” Ohuruogu, 24, said. “And busy means I get a bit scatterbrained. That's just how I am. I'm not going to beat myself up over it.”

Instead, when times get bad she consults Lloyd Cowan, her coach and a rising star himself, with Simeon Williamson, the sprinter, also in his stable. “He is a very brilliant man,” Ohuruogu said. “He is extremely adept and I have full faith in him. If I ever have a problem, the first person I run to is Lloyd and he always sorts me out. He has never let me down. I am really proud of him.”

This season Ohuruogu has run only three 400 metres races, choosing to develop her speed by focusing on the 200 metres. She knows that she will probably have to improve her personal best of 49.61sec, set in the World Championships final, to defeat Sanya Richards, the queen of the event from the United States. However, this is a woman who became the world champion after being forced to take a part-time job with Newham Council during her exile.

“Maybe once I leave the sport, and maybe once I understand a lot more about the sport than I do, maybe I will see the significance of what I have done,” Ohuruogu said.

And Richards? “It is no big issue,” Ohuruogu said. “Whoever turns up, turns up. I have no issues racing against anyone.”

The pressure is mounting, but this time she is prepared. “You never expect an easy ride,” she said. “There is always going to be a challenge, but it just so happens that I am able to deal with the challenge in front of me.”

Tickets for the Aviva London Grand Prix in Crystal Palace tomorrow and Saturday are available on 0800 0556056 or online at ukathletics.net