considers home , and what her plans for the future are .
“ That ’ s a hard question , because I was born in SA and it will always be my home , but I have bought a house in the States with my husband and feel settled there . Also , when I graduated , I was no longer allowed to stay in the USA on a student visa , but when Cameron and I got married last December I was automatically allowed to get my Green Card , which allows me to live in the States and earn money – and pay taxes – but I am still a South African national , and I want to keep representing SA . But both countries are now home ,” says Dom .
“ Even if I wanted to run for America I can ’ t , because you have to have a US passport and be a permanent citizen … but it ‘ s not what I want to do anyway , I want to keep running for South Africa . I moved overseas to study and happened to find a husband there , so now I live and train over there , but I do not want to turn my back on SA . I worked hard to get into the South African team and had a great experience in Rio , and now I want more of that . Cam and I have discussed our plans , including when to start a family , and he understands that my focus will be on my running at least until the 2020 Tokyo Olympics , and possibly even up to the 2024 Games . I ’ m only 24 now , so we still have plenty of time for kids down the line .”
Things Working Out Nicely
Another reason Dom is so happy with life in Arkansas is that her successful partnership with Coach Harter is set to continue , even though she has now finished college and is no
Dom with Coach Harter
longer running for the Razorbacks . “ He is still my coach , and they are allowing me to train with the squad and use the facilities . They ’ ve even given me a faculty parking pass , and still allow me to eat in the student athlete cafeteria . They say it improves the level of their athletes by allowing top athletic alumni to continue training there , and that also means I get to give back to the programme as well , so everybody is happy .”
Looking ahead , Dom says she reckons the 10,000m is her best event right now , but she still wants to race the shorter middle distance events on the track . “ I only just missed out on the Rio qualifier for the 5000 by 1.1 seconds – and that was in my first race of the outdoor season , before I peaked – so this year I am hoping to qualify for both the 5000 and 10,000 at the World Champs in London . I believe I can run the ‘ Double ,’ because they ’ re a week apart on the programme , so there ’ s enough time to recuperate . Also , I ’ ve run good mile and 3000 times on the indoor track recently , so I think I do have the speed to run the 5000 .”
Her competitive plans for 2017 will start with the indoor track season from January to March , followed by the outdoor season from April through till about September , and in between she says she may fit in a few road races as well . “ I love running on the road , because I grew up at the road races in Cape Town that my mom ran . There ’ s not much cross country in the professional athletics world and I want to stay on the track for at least a couple more years before I make the step to the road , but I will still do some road events .”
Sounding a Bit Dodgy
Of course , the one less than fortunate side-effect of Dom ’ s journey is the way five years in America has affected her accent , which now has an unmistakable American tone . “ I get teased about it here in SA , but then we go back to the States and Cam gets asked where he ’ s from , because he picks up some of the things I say . Sometimes it switches on and off , so we ’ re both now multi-cultural , but we just laugh off the teasing , because we ’ re just enjoying life .”
“ It was the fastest women ’ s 10,000m in history – within the first 200m we were already running single file , and I was on my PB pace right from the gun – and even though I got lapped a couple of times , it was still amazing to be part of it .”
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