But her national and international profile blossomed when she posed naked with her skates and appeared on the front page of The Timaru Herald and in the January edition of Playboy magazine last year.
"I didn't do it for money," she said.
"I just wanted to raise my profile. It took off very quickly. I didn't have to do a lot at all after the pictures were published. My motivation was simply to increase my profile in the hope of attracting a sponsor and to increase the profile of inline skating."
Would you do it again?
"I wouldn't do it again for myself," Begg said.
"But I would do it for charity."
Begg and motocross rider Katherine Prumm were guest speakers this week at the Westpac-sponsored Halberg Celebrity luncheon organised by Sport Otago at the Glenroy Auditorium.
Begg (21) won world titles in 2006 and 2007 and the silver medal this year.
"It was the best I've ever raced," she said.
"But sometimes little things don't go right. If little things had gone right I could have won the gold again."
She was leading the second race of the international series when she crashed and broke her jaw after 10km of a 42km race.
"We were travelling fast and they took me out from behind," Begg explained.
"I still don't know who did it. But I don't think it was deliberate. It was hard. I had the jaw wired for six weeks and could not eat, and could only drink liquids through a straw. It was tough because I still had marathons to race with my jaw locked."
Inline skating is a family sport for Begg.
Her mother, Cheryl, won three world titles for South Africa with her last title being in 1990 after giving birth to two children.
Begg learned to skate at a young age but still likes to skate for fun and teaches skating in her home town, Timaru.
"I'm not allowed to skate on the roads," she said.
"I have been ticked off and given a warning by the cops for skating on the road."
Skating in marathons over 42km is easy for Begg, but she found it more difficult when she raced in a 111km race.
"It was raining for the first 90km and I finished in a time of 3hr 20min," she said.
Begg is preparing for the New Zealand championships in Christchurch in January. She will also be involved in the revived Top Town competition.
Her international season starts next April with a series of marathons with her Bont Wheels professional team. The world championships will be held in Switzerland at the end of the season.
Prumm (20), whose home is in Auckland, won the world championships series in 2006 and 2007 and was leading this year when forced to withdraw because of a serious accident.
"It was frustrating," she said.
"It was disappointing to have an ACL rupture in my knee."
Prumm carried on despite the injury and took the lead in the world championships after three of the five rounds.
"I then broke my collarbone and that injury ended my season and stopped me from competing in the last two rounds," she said. "I'm looking for my third title next year."
Prumm has recovered from her injuries and is ready for the start of the New Zealand championship season in Rotorua next week despite little preparation.
"I'm just looking to get some of my speed back again and get my confidence up for next year," Prumm said.
There will also be two international races in New Zealand, with the first at Taupo.
"I return to Europe in February for the world championships," she said.
The world championships has been extended next year to an eight-round championships. Six will be in Europe, one in South Africa and the last one in the United States.
"In each round there are two races," she said.
A lot of physical preparation is needed to be a successful international motocross rider and Prumm works with weights in the gymnasium three days each week and also runs, swims, cycles and rides mountain bikes.
"You use every muscle in the body in our sport," she said.
When Prumm started motocross there were only two other girls competing.
"Dad is a doctor and was told off by his colleagues for letting me compete in such a dangerous sport," she said.
There were no half measures about Prumm's approach. She wanted to get into the professional ranks from the start and finished in the top 30 (male and female) in New Zealand in her first year.
