Men look at her and go weak in the knees. Sports writers everywhere wax lyrical about her, while the meaner spirited say she's popular just because she's prettier than the rest.

To which triathlon star Dominique Donner (30) replies: "Luckily I win at the same time. I wouldn't like to get more publicity than I deserve but I deserve all the publicity I get."

And that's no idle boast - she's the current African Triathlon Champion and ranked 21st in the world. Being an attractive woman in a sports world full of men is an advantage, she says. She's appeared on the cover of Runner's World and SA Sports Illustrated has written about herin it's monthly series - The Beauty of Sport. She's tried her hand at modelling too during the past year and appears in an ad for Safari dried fruit, her sponsor. But she doesn't like being referred to as a model. "Modelling is just something I do to focus on something other than my training sessions. Training is my passion. "

She's so passionate about her sport that not even having one leg shorter than the other (by 1.2cm) bothers her. She simply competes with lifts in her shoes. Dominique also suffers from scoliosis, an abnormal lateral curvature of the spine. and as a teenager had to indergo two knee operations. Two years ago she injured her right shoulder and now the left is playing up. "My back, hip and neck cause me a lot of pain but sport means so much to me I can handle a little discomfort." she says.

She trains up to five hours a day and works especially hard at increasing her running speed in the Olympic triathlon, in which she has to swim 1500m, cycle 40km and finish off with a 10km run. Swimming is no problem - she's usually first out of the water - snd cycling holds no terror for here. Running is her weak spot, she says. She won her Western Province colours while still at school.

Her recipe for success? Hard work, perseverance and peanut butter. Wherever she goes, her jar of peanut butter goes with her. The evening before a race she visualises the whole courseand forgets about her competitiors.

Dominiques flat in Tokai, Cape Town, is comfortably furnished and there's usually a large arrangement of sunflowers, next to which stands an urn containing her cat Catarina's ashes. To improve her world ranking, she takes part in about 12 world cup meetings a year. France, America and Canada are next on her itinerary. When at home she grabs a paintbrush and paints the walls of her flat a different colour every three of four months.

While she spends alot of time in her tracksuit - she loves to dress up. "I'm mad about beautiful clothes, shoes and french perfume," she says. Eating out - especially at lunchtime because she goes to bed early - is a passion and conversation around the dinner tablee can be anything except triathlons.

She loves food - ostrich, seafood and pasta are her favourites - and she enjjoys red wine and the odd tequila. "I'd rather be number 10 in the world rankings and enjoy my life than be number one and give up everything."

She obviously doesn't believe in the saying blondes have more fun and six months ago dyed her hair brown. "It suits me better." she says. "And my boyfriend thinks he has a new girlfriend."

The lucky man in question is Nick, an amatuer triathlete. He supports her and doesn't complain when she goes to train in France for three months. "A possessive boyfriend can ruin your career" she says.

Wedding bells and family are not on the cards at the moment. I can;t imagine having children as they would get in the way of triathlons, she says. Where dos she see herself in 10 years time? "I want to enter an win the Ironman competition, Woman peak in endurance in thir 30's and early 40's."

And when she retires she wants to be sure she's achieved all she set out to do.