A life between continents
Much of Thiam’s training these days takes place far from Belgium, in South Africa, where she has built a quieter rhythm.
The move has brought its challenges, of course, but also a sense of comfort. “It was a big move for me to move from Belgium to South Africa,” she said. “I’m more in South Africa now than I am in Belgium. To be able to bring my dog with me, it feels a bit more like home because it’s a very long period without seeing my family and friends. Sometimes it’s three months without seeing them, so to have my baby with me is nice.”
In the solitude of training, she finds peace, far from the noise that inevitably follows a national icon. “The goal also for me to be in South Africa is to be able to just do my thing in my corner and be at peace. I think also with the years I’ve learned that I’m always preparing better when I just focus on myself.”
This calm and focus may serve her well at the world championships in Tokyo, where the heptathlon will feature an unusually compressed schedule.
“Everything is going to go really fast, and I just hope we have enough time to be ready for the next event. Maybe it’s also going to flow and it’s going to be a good thing that it goes so fast.”
But first, on Friday night (22 August), in front of her fans, Thiam will step (or rather leap) into the sand once more, fine-tuning what the rain in Lausanne denied her last week, and soaking up the well-desesrved roar of a home crowd that has waited three years to see her back at the Memorial.