Dorcus Inzikuru

Medal record
Women's Athletics
Competitor for  Uganda
World Championships
Gold	2005 Helsinki	3000 m steeplechase
Commonwealth Games
Gold	2006 Melbourne	3000 m steeplechase

Dorcus Inzikuru (born February 2, 1982 in Vurra, Arua District) is a Ugandan athlete competing in steeplechase. She won the inaugural World title in women's 3000 m steeplechase, as well as the first Commonwealth title in the event. Her coach is Renato Canova. Sometimes her name is spelt "Docus". It was misspelled in her passport, and the mistake was perpetuated when she entered international races.^[1]

Career

Inzikuru won the bronze medal in the 5000 metres at the 2003 Afro-Asian Games, finishing behing Meseret Defar, and Tirunesh Dibaba. She also won at cross country, beating all-comers at the Eurocross meeting that year.^[2]

2005 World Championships

In 2005, at the World Championships, in Helsinki, Finland, Inzikuru ended Uganda's 33-year wait for an athletics world title, winning the inaugural women's 3000 m steeplechase event, in a time of 9:18.24 (at the time, the sixth best performance ever). Inzikuru only became aware of the $60,000 prize after winning the final and vowed to use her money to build a house and to help young athletes.

She had competed in the IAAF World Cross Country Championships that year but she finished in 18th place. In 2006 she won the Oeiras International Cross Country meeting, but she pulled out of that season's World Cross Country Championships.^[3]

2009 return

After taking two years out from athletics, due to giving birth to her first child (Emmanuelle Munguci) and receiving treatment for sinus infections and various allergies, she returned to competition. She won an 800 metres race in Namboole on 6 June with a time of 2:12.0, later saying: "This is my first race after over two years. I am just coming back and am proud of my time. It builds my confidence".^[4]

Personal life

Inzikuru grew up in Vurra, in Arua District, the daughter of an Anglican priest. Her parents were both talented athletes, but did not compete internationally. She was the third of eight children, but lost her two older brothers at the ages of eight and fourteen, to typhoid and malaria.

Inzikurru is now married to a doctor, Martin Bosco Acidri, a former sprinter.

Inzikuru often lives and trains in Turin and competes for the Milan club, Camelot. She often trains with men's world record holder, Saif Saaeed Shaheen, as the two share the same coach, Renato Canova.

Achievements

3000 m Steeplechase

• 2005 World Championships, Gold (9:18.24)
• 2005 World Athletics Final, Gold
• 2006 Commonwealth Games, Gold (9:19.51

3000 m

• 1999 World Youth Championships, 8th

5000 m

• 1999 African Games, 6th
• 2000 World Junior Championships, Gold
• 2002 Commonwealth Games, 4th
• 2002 African Games, Silver
• 2003 Afro-Asian Games, Bronze

Cross Country

• 2000 World Junior Championships, 10th
• 2004 World Championships (short course), 38th
• 2005 World Championships (short course), 18th
• 2007 World Championships, DNF

Personal bests

• 800 m, 2:02.00
• One Mile, 4:36.05
• 3000 m, 8:46.29
• 5000 m, 15:05.30
• 2000 m Steeplechase, 6:04.46
• 3000 m Steeplechase, 9:15.04

References

1. ^ "Name mistakenly spelt but maybe no longer - Dorcus Inzikuru", IAAF News, 9 August 2005
2. ^ Civai, Franco & Gasparovic, Juraj (2009-02-28). Eurocross 10.2 km (men) + 5.3 km (women). Association of Road Racing Statisticians. Retrieved on 2010-03-01.
3. ^ Fernandes, António Manuel (2006-11-12). Inzikuru and Kamais dominate IAAF XC in Oeiras. IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-11-22.
4. ^ Katende, Norman (2009-06-08). Inzikuru starts comeback with 800m outing in 2:12.0. IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-06-09.

External links

• 2006 Commonwealth Games, "Ugandan's Golden Games Debut"
• BBC News
• IAAF profile for Dorcus Inzikuru

Sporting positions
Preceded by Gulnara Samitova-Galkina	Women's 3000 m Steeplechase Best Year Performance 2005	Succeeded by Wioletta Janowska

Persondata
Name	Inzikuru, Dorcus
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1982-02-02
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death