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December 2009
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Domínguez win makes the Spanish headlines |
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12.12.2007 |
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Determined Domínguez breaks the tape on home soil
Photo by Andy Heading
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Marta Domínguez's triumph on home soil at the 2007 SPAR European Cross Country Championships managed to even knock the football giants Real Madrid off the front pages of the Spanish newspapers.
"Marta Domínguez, queen on every surface," ran the headline of the Spanish paper La Razon on Monday, below a huge picture of her clutching the gold medal, the day after she became the first ever Spanish individual winner in the history of the Championships.
"Marta doesn't have any limits," heralded the sports daily Marca, Spain's biggest selling newspaper, her latest triumph coming in the wake of successive 5,000m triumphs at the 2002 and 2006 European Athletics Championships.
"I knew I was going to win when I was about 500m from the line, there were only three of us and I knew that if I hit the accelerator then I'd be the champion," reflected Dominguez.
"People were expecting more from the men and for them to get an individual medal, but not many people thought that we would have two Spanish women on the podium," she added with a grin, her compatriot Rosa Morato coming through for the bronze medal to help the Spanish women to top honours in the team competition.
Domínguez's win in Toro though didn't come without it's worries beforehand, and not all of them related to the ankle problems which had bothered her during the summer.
"Expectations were very high and I was afraid of the responsibility of being the focal point of Spanish ambitions on home soil. When I go to a competition it seems to many people that it's automatic I will win, but it is obviously not true. A victory like this one depends on many things," said Domínguez, after having time to reflect on what she'd achieved.
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Domínguez is now in training to achieve her only
missing major Championship medal and achieve her
Olympic dreams.
Photo by Picture Alliance
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"I think people know that I always try my best in a competition - when I don't win then I want to be second and so I can say that I did my best - and I always want to be at my best when I compete, that's why I didn't go to Osaka.
"The Spanish federation President phoned me and asked to me compete in the World Championships but I felt I couldn't give my best and so in the end I didn't go.
"But, in the end, it doesn't matter what other people say, I run for myself and if I'm happy with my performance then that's enough.
"I had to be 100 per cent on Sunday to achieve this victory and it cost me a lot. I was preparing for at least four months for this competition, paying attention to every little detail of my life. I had to be careful with my diet and try to avoid injury but ultimately everything came together well."
Her next target is now the 2008 Olympic Games, the only major competition from which she is missing a medal and she even plans to miss the World Indoor Championships in the Spanish city of Valencia next March
"An Olympic medal has been my dream since childhood, it's the dream of every athlete. I haven't given up on getting a medal because I am a fighter but there have been three Games during the course of my international career and I'm still without a medal.
"Beijing may not be my last competition but it will probably be my last chance of an Olympic medal so I'll be fighting for one," added the determined Domínguez who showed all her fighting abilities at this year's SPAR European Cross Country Championships.
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