Dutee Chand: The agony and triumph of being Dutee Chand

GOPALPUR (ODISHA): 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 poverty-stricken family, had made headlines as the under-18 national 100 metres champion. She repeated her feat in the 100 as well as 200 metres-dash 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. large69620425Dutee, 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. 69620628 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. medium69621736“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.boxcontent medium nocaption69631096Dutee Chand's remarkable storyIndia's first openly gay athleteIn 2015, Chand won an appeal at the court of arbitration for sport paving way for athletes with hyperandrogenism to compete in 100 metre and 200 metre racesThe decision allowed her to compete in 2018 Asian Game where she won two silver medalsTo 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. 69620470Being 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. At 5ft 3in, Dutee did not have the natural advantage of a taller athlete. But she made up for it with sheer grit and determination. 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. 69618436Dutee literally had a great run after that. She set a national record in 60 metres and 100 metres at the 2016 Federation Cup in New Delhi. She also became the third Indian to qualify for the Olympics sprint when she bettered her mark twice in a day at Almaty and set her personal best of 11.24 seconds in the marquee event. She won two bronze medals at the 2017 Asian Athletics in front of a cheering home crowd in Bhubaneswar. Axed from participation in the previous edition, 2018 saw Dutee’s Asian Games debut where she won two silvers and became the first Indian to bring the country laurels in the 100m event since the legendary P T Usha achieved the feat 32 years ago. medium69630831Away 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 family and Gopalpur haven't. For now, though, that is enough.Untitled Carousel 69467779TOI edit: Out and Proud