Dutee Chand was born on February 3, 1996, to Chakradhar Chand and Akhuji Chand in the Jajpur district of Odisha.
On the birthday of Dutee Chand, we feel highly elated to share about her achievements and her struggle to reach out for her passion.
She is from a below-poverty-line weavers’ family.
She was inspired by her older sister Saraswati Chand, who competed in running at state level.
Coming from a not so strong financial background, Chand never had many career options to pursue but she believes that following her passion with true spirit has always led her to the right path.
At a very young age, Chand was encouraged to take up sports by her sister.
From running barefoot to becoming the current national champion in women’s 100m, she had her own set of struggles.
“As a kid, I did not know much about the sport but my sister always kept pushing me to continue running. Whatever career option you choose, finances are very important but when it comes to sports, the finances required can be more than double and I was financially very weak when I took up athletics. I used to run barefoot as I had no money to take professional training,” she said.
Impressive career to look back upon on the birthday of Dutee Chand:
- In 2012, Dutee Chand became a national champion in the under-18 category, when she clocked 11.2 seconds in the 100m event.
- Clocking 23.811 seconds, Chand won the bronze in the Women’s 200m event at the 2013 Asian Athletics Championships at Pune. In the same year, she became the national champion in 100m and 200m when she won the events clocking 11.73s in the final in 100m and a career-best 23.73s in 200m at the National Senior Athletics Championships at Ranchi.
- In June 2014, she won two gold medals at Asian Junior Athletics Championships in 200m and 4 × 400m relays.
- Dutee Chand had grabbed headlines by becoming the first Indian female athlete in 36 years to qualify for the 100m event at the Olympics at Rio 2016, by breaching the then Olympic qualifying mark of 11.32 seconds.
- Dutee broke the very same National record twice in one day after clocking 11.24 at the XXVI International Meeting G Kosanov Memorial at Almaty, Kazakhstan, thereby qualifying for the Olympic Games.
“I am really happy at the moment, it has been a tough year for me and I am so happy that my coach and my hard work has paid off. I would like to thank all the people in India who were praying for me to qualify. Your wishes have paid off,” she exclaimed.
- In 2017, at the Asian Athletics Championships she clinched two bronze medals, one in the Women’s 100m, another in the Women’s 4 × 100m relay with Srabani Nanda, Merlin K Joseph, and Himashree Roy at Bhubaneswar.
- At the 2018 Asian Games, in the Women’s 100m finals, Chand won the silver medal, her first Asian games medal, clocking 11.32s on August 26. Again, on August 29, she bagged her second silver at the Asian games in the Women’s 200m final. Her silver in 100m, was India’s silver medal in this category after 32 years since P.T. Usha won in 1986. It was Canada’s first medal in the Asian games as she was banned in 2014 and her 200m silver is 16 years after Saraswati Saha’s gold in 2002 at Busan.
- At the 2019 Summer Universiade in Napoli, Chand won gold in the 100m race, becoming the first Indian woman sprinter to win gold at the Universiade. She finished the sprint in 11.32 seconds. She was also the flag-bearer during the opening ceremony of the event.
Personal life:
In 2013, she enrolled in the KIIT University to study law. She is presently employed as an executive officer in the state PSU The Odisha Mining Corporation Ltd.
In 2019, she became India’s first ever openly gay athlete as she publicly stated that she is in a same-sex relationship, saying that the Indian Supreme Court’s decision to decriminalise gay sex in 2018 encouraged her to speak publicly about her sexuality, mentioning that she was in a same-sex relationship.
Chand faced severe backlash from her home village after her announcement, whose residents disavowed her remarks and called them “humiliating”.
Birthday of Dutee Chand: The controversies she faced:
- Chand was dropped from the 2014 Commonwealth Games contingent at the last minute after the Athletic Federation of India stated that hyperandrogenism made her ineligible to compete as a female athlete. Following the Commonwealth Games, she was also dropped from the Indian contingent for the 2014 Asian Games.
- There has been no suggestion that Chand has been involved in cheating or doping, the decision was made in compliance with International Olympic Committee (IOC) regulations on “female hyperandrogenism” designed to address a perceived advantage for female athletes with high androgen levels. The decision has been condemned by Australian intersex advocates. The Athletic Federation of India and IAAF’s actions were widely criticized as an affront to Chand’s privacy and human rights.
- Chand appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). The Canadian law firm Davies, Ward, Phillips & Vineberg, LLP represented her on a pro bono basis. The IAAF policy on hyperandrogenism, or high natural levels of testosterone in women, was suspended following the case of Dutee Chand vs Athletics Federation of India (AFI) & The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), in the Court of Arbitration for Sport, decided in July 2015.
- The ruling found that there was a lack of evidence provided that testosterone increased female athletic performance and notified the IAAF that it had two years to provide the evidence. This effectively removed the suspension of Chand from competition, clearing her to race again.
Awards and honors:
- Rs 3 crore (US$420,000) was awarded to her from the Government of Odisha for winning the silver medals at the 2018 Asian Games.
- She also received the prestigious Arjuna award for athletics. Dutee Chand said that this honor will motivate her to achieve “bigger feats” for the country. “It is a big achievement for me and for every athlete who is conferred with such prestigious honors. An award should never become anybody’s responsibility but surely, it will motivate me for the Olympics 2021. Not only athletes but these awards are also a big motivation to the kids who aspire to take up sports as their career,” says Chand.
