Revision as of 06:54, 1 December 2020

Achievements

August 14, 2018: The Times of India

The Odisha athlete, the fastest Indian woman, has come a long way since failing a gender test. The ace sprinter will be hoping to break new ground at the Asiad as she attempts to win medals in the women’s 100m and 200m events in which Indians have struggled to make the podium. The last medal in 100m – no Indian has won a gold – came through PT Usha in 1986.

Family

Sister's blackmailing forced Dutee to come out

SUJIT.BISOYI, May 22, 2019: The Times of India

Odia sprinter Dutee Chand, who has revealed her same-sex relationship, said on Tuesday she was forced to do it as her elder sister was blackmailing her for a sum of Rs 25 lakh.

“As I have been in a relationship with a girl of our village for the last three years, my elder sister (Saraswati) was continuously threatening to expose our relationship in the media whenever I failed to give her whatever she demanded. She was threatening that I won’t be able to concentrate on sports once my relationship get exposed,” said Dutee, addressing a news conference.

The 23-year old athlete also alleged that her elder sister had once beaten her up which she had reported to the police. Though the sports fraternity and gender rights activists have hailed Dutee’s coming out as a gay, the Asian Games medalist has been facing the ire of her family. Dutee’s mother Akhuji has objected to her daughter’s relationship.

Saraswati, also a former athlete and now working with Odisha Police, had alleged that Dutee was being misguided by some persons who have been trying to siphon off her money. Asked about her mother’s objection to her relationship, Dutee said her mother must have been influenced by someone to make such statements. “My mother is alleging that I am not supporting my family financially, which is not true. I am aware about my duty towards my parents and family. I have been extending all help, including financial, to my parents,” Dutee said.

The sprinter, who is preparing for World Championship and Tokyo Olympics, said she has not done anything wrong by having a relationship with a girl. She said her father and other siblings have no objection to her relationship. The sprinter also requested the media not to spread anything which may adversely impact her career or socially harm her partner.

Responding to Dutee’s fresh allegations, Saraswati said it was not true. She said Dutee is being “blackmailed and pressurized” by some people who want her money.

Dutee’s village turns its back on her

Sudeshna Ghosh, June 3, 2019: The Times of India

Dutee’s village turns its back on favourite child

Gopalpur: Sometime in 2013, Gopalpur, a nondescript village in Odisha with less than 600 inhabitants and the nearest town 17 km away, sprinted into the country’s imagination. Dutee Chand, a girl from a povertystricken family, had made headlines as the under-18 national 100 metres champion. She repeated her feat in the 100 as well as 200 metresdash at the senior national championships in Ranchi. It was also the year she won bronze at the Asian athletics meet in Pune and made it to the finals at the World Youth Championships.

Dutee, whose family and equally impoverished neighbours made a living as weavers, had arrived — and how. It was the kind of story that sports films are built around. Thrown into the limelight along with Dutee, Gopalpur, in Odisha’s Jajpur district, basked in her halo too. After years, perhaps endless decades in anonymity, the village had in its midst a national hero. Gopalpur adored her.

May 2019 — when Dutee became India’s first openly gay athlete — changed all that. Gopalpur’s residents now say they are are embarrassed to mention the name of the ace sprinter who put their tiny village on the Indian and global map. To many, the 23-year-old athlete’s declaration of same-sex love was a watershed moment in Indian sports. Back home, though, Gopalpur has condemned her.

“We were proud that a weaver’s daughter from here won medals. But all of us were shocked to know about her relationship,” said Benudhar, president of Gopalpur Weavers Co-operative Society.

Dutee’s own family has been brutal in their criticism of the sprinter. “What she is doing is immoral and unethical. She has destroyed the reputation of our village. I can’t believe...my own daughter...,” Chakradhar Chand, her father, trailed off.

To many youngsters, Dutee was until recently a source of both deep envy and great admiration. But the icon has quickly fallen off the pedestal. “We have only seen such things in movies. We don’t behave like this here. She was one of our own, but she let us down,” said a 21-year-old woman who did not wish to be identified.

Dutee herself is unperturbed. “No one likes to make their personal life public. I had planned to settle down with my partner. But my family got wind of our relationship and my sister threatened that she would tell the world about us and shame us. So I decided to tell everyone myself. Now that I have done it, I’m at peace,” she said.

Being brave is something that comes naturally to her — like her quick, strong strides on hard ground. Born into a poor family with nine members, Dutee trained like a maniac for a better future, practicing on the banks of the Brahmani river, jogging on uneven, kuccha village roads. She knew it was the only way out of penury. In 2014, when she won gold at an Asian event, the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) unceremoniously dropped her at the last moment from the contingent for the Commonwealth Games and eventually also for the Asian Games as she tested positive for higher androgen levels. The decision followed a controversial stand on female hyperandrogenism — that female athletes with high androgen levels have an advantage over other competitors — held by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).

Not one to be brow-beaten, Dutee took her case to the Court for Arbitration for Sport. In July 2015, CAS found IAAF’s stance to be devoid of scientific evidence and set aside the ruling. It was a verdict with global repercussions and Dutee was eligible to compete again. Dutee literally had a great run after that — setting national record at the 2016 Federation Cup in New Delhi and becoming the third Indian to qualify for the Olympics sprint.

Away from the track, too, Dutee was happy. Romance was brewing. A young girl came into her life in 2017 and Dutee saw in her a soul mate. “Four of us, including her brother, were staying at a house in Bhubaneswar. I told her about my struggles and she understood me, we grew close,” Dutee said, adding that her friends have supported her coming out though her fa-mily and Gopalpur haven’t. For now, though, that is enough.

Year-Wise, statistics

2018

Asiad

Biswajyoti Brahma, HAPPY AFTER ENDURING PAIN FOR LONG: DUTEE, August 27, 2018: The Times of India

Dutee Chand (women’s 100m)
From: August 27, 2018: The Times of India

It was a sort of redemption for Dutee Chand, who had to undergo “mental agony” following her tryst with hyperandrogenism four years back. The sprinter had to face a lot of hardship and was even dropped from the Indian squad in 2014 due to hyperandrogenism policy of the world athletics body (IAAF). She was later made ineligible before being reinstated following a Court of Arbitration order (CAS).

“Today I feel like a mother who had to bear the pain for nine months but forgets everything once she sees the new-born,” Dutee said after the race. “I am happy to win this medal after enduring pain for long,” she added.

She said she had worked hard for the event in the run up to the event, but could have claimed the gold after the tight fight. “People usually train for four hours a day but I worked for six hours. But my inexperience at competing at international events cost me the gold. The girl who won the top place had experience of several international competitions,” shew said.

Dutee said she was disappointed finishing third in the semifinal and was apprehensive about winning a medal.