The Sunday News
Mehluli Sibanda, Senior Sports Reporter
LAST Saturday saw Faith Dube being crowned Ms Bulawayo at a show held at Elite 400 in what was the first time that the sprint athlete had taken part in a bodybuilding competition.
Dube beat Kylie McDonald and Sinini Nxumalo to walk away with the top prize on the night. The 27-year-old took home $200, a trophy, medal and certificate. On the reasons for taking up bodybuilding, Dube, who runs 200m and 400m, said national team athletics coach, Lisimati Phakamile gave her six weeks off from the sport after the African Senior Championships in Nigeria at the beginning of August.
“After the African Senior Championships, our athletics coach said I should do a different sport that is not athletics, he in fact suggested netball but I have done netball before so I decided to do bikini fitness modeling. I realised that the training is different from athletics. After two weeks of training I decided to go on stage so that I build my confidence and test how far I had gone with my training,’’ Dube said.
Building up to last Saturday’s show was not easy for the athlete as she found it difficult to work on her upper body since for athletics she focuses more on her legs.
“It wasn’t easy especially working on my upper body, I found it hard to work on my upper body but I managed to cope. It wasn’t easy to follow the diet a week before competition, in bikini fitness you have to eat more of protein. I cut out carbohydrates completely, the results were wonderful and my physique came out nicely. Cutting on water was also tough, I could feel the cramps on stage,’’ she said.
Dube made up her mind a week before the competition that she was going on stage and it took her three days to master the poses.
“I made up my mind a week before the competition, I gave myself three days of doing poses and I was sure that I can now jump on stage.”
Describing how she felt on stage, Dube said she was nervous at the beginning but when the crowd got behind her, she almost had an idea that she was going to win.
“I felt nervous, I wasn’t at ease but when I was doing my T-walk, when I heard the crowd cheering I knew I was on the right track. You might have a good body but if you fail to show your physique on stage then it’s useless. What won it for me were my legs and my back, I was more cut than other competitors,’’ Dube said.
With the way she prepared, Dube was confident of landing the top women’s prize and indeed things went her way.
“I just entered with confidence that I would win, after my two weeks training I knew my body would look different. The amount of work that I put in on that day was just awesome.”
Before heading back to the athletics track, Dube is considering participating in the national competition in Harare on 29 September where if she goes, she is entering in the bikini fitness.
