By Paul Mbuga

DORCUS Inzikuru has set her sights firmly on Olympic glory after giving birth to her first child, Emmanuella, on Saturday morning. The birth of Emmanuella represents a glowing climax to a year in which Inzikuru posted a distinctly average report on the track.

She dropped out of the World Cross-Country Championships in March in Mombasa due to the searing heat, and while her pregnancy made it impossible for her to take part in the All Africa Games and defend her World Championship title in Japan in August, a troublesome sinusitis ailment would nevertheless have kept her indisposed.

“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 and the World Championships ,” she had said mid this year.

“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.”
The Arua Gazelle then vowed: “The world cross-country championships are a bit too close. But I promise Uganda that I will be at the 2008 Olympic Games.”

Inzikuru’s immediate concern will be to regain her competitiveness in the lead-up to the Olympics, and she can take heart from the experience of Paula Radcliffe.
The British champion marathon runner gave birth to a baby girl in January this year.

Like Inzikuru, news of Radcliffe’s pregnancy provoked surprised, and critics questioned why such a single-minded athlete would do jeopardise her career with a pregnancy.
But Radcliffe returned in emphatic fashion, winning the New York Marathon in November.

Inzikuru remains similarly motivated.
“I will definitely be in Beijing My main target remains an Olympic medal, and God willing, I will have it.”