New Delhi: For 22-year-old Dutee Chand, the silver medal she bagged in 100 metres at the Asian Games on Sunday night, was more than an acknowledgement of her fantastic deeds on athletics track.
"To me, this medal is like my answer to critics and all the unjust treatment that I received over the past four years for no fault of mine. I cried my heart out four years ago when I was unceremoniously kept out of the Asian Games team," the Odisha sprinter said from Jakarta.
"This time, I was determined to make best use of the opportunity. I am happy that I am returning home with at least a medal in my pocket," Dutee said after finishing second with a time of 11.32 seconds behind Edidiong Odiong of Bahrain (11.30).
Dutee was not far from the truth. Her fights against odds were not restricted to track only. Off the field, she was engaged in long legal battles in a row over her gender. Diagnosed with hyperandrogenism, a condition which produces high testosterone levels, she was denied her chance to run in the Incheon Asian Games by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).
It has been a difficult road for Dutee Chand, who was born in rural poverty and suffered the psychological trauma of gender testing when she was just a teenager after showing elevated levels of testosterone in 2014. However, she took her case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which finally ruled in her favour earlier this year.
The IAAF also changed its rules to target middle-distance runners, who include South Africa's double Olympic champion Caster Semenya, citing evidence that races between 400m and a mile had been most affected by women with high testosterone levels.
While South Africa's athletics federation has pledged to challenge the ruling, Dutee is able to compete as she specialises only in 100 and 200m races. "I can't express in words how much I owe to people, who stood by me when I was trouble," said Dutee. She specially thanked Calcutta-based Payoshini Mitra, who was Dutee's biggest help during her long battle in CAS. Even the Sports Authority of India (SAI), after initial hesitation, decided to back the talented sprinter.
Dutee was surprisingly dropped from the squad for Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, but she came back with a bang to break her own national record in June with a time of 11.29 seconds in the inter-state meet in Guwahati.
Dutee said she was disappointed by her semi-finals timing of 11.43 seconds. "I knew, it would take me nowhere in the final. So, I made sure I do better in the actual medal race."
