No, I was born in East London and at the age of 6years, our family moved to Fort Beaufort, a small town in the Eastern Cape. I attended Fort Beaufort Primary school and later Adelaide Gymnasium as a weekly border at the hostel. After High School I went to Port Elizabeth where I did youth work in schools in Uitenhage. In 2004, while I was attending ISLS (International Sport Leadership School), the Lord called me to focus on my sport career as a platform to further His Kingdom. In 2006 I moved to Johannesburg to work with Athletes in Action in discipling pro athletes, study theology, train more professionally myself.

I enjoyed all sports, but I was good in swimming and running. From early on I swam provisionally and later did Biathlon (Swim and Run) on South African championships and international Level. Although I focused on swimming and running at school, I still went to the cricket nets to hit a few balls after my training sessions. I enjoy sport, especially my specialties with Triathlon, because this is my worship time for the Lord. While I run, swim or ride I am thinking about and speaking to the Lord. It is usually also these times when God speaks to me. I guess that is why I always enjoy individual sports.

That is an interesting question. For me a professional athlete is if you train and operate in your sport on a professional level and manner. That also includes if you compete in the Elite categories in your specialty and thus compete to the best athletes in your country and the world. My Sport is Triathlon. The last few years I focused on the Olympic distance triathlons on elite level.

Eyesight is important in all sport. In Triathlon, for instance, the race starts with an open water swim, and one of the most important aspects of this open water swim is vision. If you can’t see well, you won’t see the Boays/markers and then you will end up swimming skew. Unfortunately that will mean you swim longer, wasting energy and time. In one of the races I lost one of my contact lenses when my goggles came off and that influenced my swim and my transition speed a lot. Because of my compromised vision I didn’t have confidence on the bike and the run, because I could not spot the obstacles.

Something interesting? Let’s see… I grew up in the Free State, lived there for 18 years, moved to Johannesburg, and studied Accounting at UJ. I met my husband in 2007 and we got married in 2008. I was privileged to attend 2 Olympic Games (for work nonetheless) in 2008 Beijing and 2016, Rio.

I have loved being active since I can remember. I used to run ‘hurdles’ over obstacles placed in the hallway of our home, cycled around the house and climbed trees, etc. But running fast has always been my passion. I think sport taught me to work for what I wanted in life and also that enjoying what you do is so important.

Yes, God willing. I grew up with the idea that sport is only to be done while in school and university, but I have come to know that the love of playing and racing are part of who God made me to be and I will try and be active for as long as I can. My goal, performance wise, is to break my personal best in the 100m and the bigger goal is to use my platform of sport to assist people in growing spiritually, physically and mentally.

I am nearsighted, which means I cannot see things in the distance very well. I wear contact lenses for my sport and therefore I can run without any issues. I make sure to not wear the monthly contact lenses for more than one month and throw away the dailies after use. Another is to wear my sunglasses to protect my eyes from the sun.