“I Decided to have a baby as soon as I learnt that with the sinusitis, I will only return to the track next year,” Inzikuru told The New Vision reporter Norman Katende yesterday.
“Everybody back home knows I have a husband. I am surprised by the reaction from some people here (Kampala),” Inzikuru, 25, she added.
The Arua Gazelle, a World and Commonwealth steeplechase champion, said she will be back for the Beijing Olympic Games.
Full Interview
DORCUS Inzikuru confirmed reports that she is pregnant yesterday. The World and Commonwealth Games champoin has been out of action since March, suffering from sinusitis (a respiratory disease).
Norman Katende interviewed the ever-optimistic runner who promised to once again defy her critics.
QUESTION: We have heard a lot about you in the past threemonths, what is going on?
ANSWER: After I have recovered well, I am going to bounce back in style and in even better form.
QN: Really? I will definitely be on the national team to the Beijing Olympic Games. My main target remains an Olympic medal, and God willing, I will have it. My coach (Qatar coach Renato Canova) knows all that I am going through. I now do some light jogging and he always calls me and gives me advice.
QN: Your fans are anxious about talk that you are pregnant ? If you are, will it not mark the end of your career? (Laughing) These are normal things among humans. It is just that some people have their own problems and celebrate what they think is the downfall of another person.
It is also a private issue.
I have been living with my husband (John Bosco Achidri, 29). He, together with Flavio Pasqualato, who has been my second parent outside my parents (Jackson and Joyce Lulua), helped pay my school fees. By the way, he (Achidri) is the one who has always advised me to continue running even when I thought about doing something else.
QN: What does your husband think now? We agree with my husband on everything I do. He agreed with me to go and run for Uganda to get a gold medal (in the World Championship in Helsinki). He keeps the medal and comes to see me train regularly.
QN: When did you think of becoming pregnant? In April. When I started treatment for sinusitis, I was told that I needed to take a rest for over eight months for a complete recovery, meaning I would miss the All Africa Games in July and the World Championships in August.
I thought to myself: ‘This would be a great opportunity since I am growing old (25 years)’. There are years that come when you can not have a baby, so when you get an opportunity, you use it.
QN: When do you expect to deliver? I am still waiting for confirmation from my doctor. I will know this weekend.
What is the average duration that athletes spend out when they get pregnant? Some spend about two years but this depends on whether they get a babysitter or not. I intend to be with my baby for about two months then resume running. Qualification will not be a big problem to me.
QN: What would happen if you give birth in December, on Christmas Day? That would be good. I would call the child Emmanuel.
QN: Don’t you feel bad not defending your world championship title? Not really. It is like having an injury which we athletes are used to. I take it like the many athletes who will miss Japan because of injury or illness.
QN: How is the treatement of your sinusitis going? Dr. John Kitto has helped me a lot. Before he started treating me, I would breathe with difficulty and even not eat meat and suffer heart burns. I can now eat meat and even move without a jacket to stay warm.
QN: What do you plan to do when your running career ends? I will not retire soon. I want to run a marathon in the future. However, after the Olympic Games, I will spare some time and continue with my studies to get some qualifications outside sports. I was studying history, economics, geography and divinity at ‘A’-level.
QN: You won so much money. What have you used it for? The money is safe. I am constructing a hostel in Arua. I am also building along Gayaza road. I have also bought for my father a vehicle and I am paying school fees for my sisters, two of them are in secondary and three are in primary school.
