Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, June 25: The non-descript house in Gopalpur village of Jajpur district had spent a sleepless night starting Friday. Saturday morning, Akhuji and Chakradhar Chand started their fast and with it prayers. They had to, after all they were praying for Dutee, their daughter, who was making her last
attempt to qualify for Rio Olympics.
The good news finally came in around 11am when elder sister Saraswati received a ‘whats app’ message from Dutee confirming her qualification for Rio. The cut off time was 11.32 seconds and Dutee became the second Oriya athlete after Anuradha Biswal to qualify for the Olympics with a time of 11.30 seconds in the first heat of the 100 metres in the G Kosanov Memorial Athletics Meet at Almaty, Kazakhstan.
In the process, Dutee also created a new national record breaking her own time of 11.33 seconds created in the Federation Cup Athletics Championships, this year in April.
“I am really happy at the moment. It has been a tough year for me and I am so happy that my coach (N) Ramesh sir’s and my hard work has paid off,” Dutee said after her qualification.
“I would like to thank all the people in India who were praying for me to qualify. Your wishes have paid off. I would like to thank Anglian Medal Hunt, Pullela Gopichand Academy and KIIT university for the all their support. I will not let anyone down at the Olympics,” she added. As the news spread, a large number of residents of the locality flocked to Dutee’s house to congratulate her parents. “Initially, we were numb when we first got the news,” stated Saraswati. “But then as we realised the gravity of her feat our joy knew no bounds. Both my phones have been constantly ringing and congratulatory messages have been constantly pouring in. Now our house will be called an Olympian’s house,” she added.
Everyone notices the performances of sportspersons on the field of action. Very rarely are their stories of blood, sweat and tears talked about. In Dutee’s case there has been more tears and pain than normal athletes face. A little more than two years ago, her career was virtually all but over as it was detected that she had excess of male hormone (hyperandrogenism) in her body.
Any other athlete would have given up hope. Not Dutee. With the help of Dr Payoshini Mitra (research consultant on gender in sports issues), Dutee challenged the IAAF decision to ban her in 2015, in the Court of Arbitration (CAS) in Lausanne. She won and since then it has been a great climb to the top for her. And finally she has achieved what every athlete desires for – to be called an ‘Olympian’.
In spite of qualifying for Rio, a medal will remain a distant dream for Dutee. Even if she makes it to the final of the event, that in itself will be a great achievement. The best six 100 metres women runners of 2016 have timings of sub-11 seconds with Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce of Jamaica having the best time of 10.74 seconds in 2016. More P16