“As soon as my name was confirmed for the Olympics, I was empty for some time and the whole trip I crossed before my eyes,” said Revathi Veeramani Emotional to Toi after he qualified for the Tokyo match.
The 23-year-old Tamil Nadu sprinter trip has become the story of fighting opportunities, poverty and many obstacles, which is common for many Indian sportsmen who dare to dream but often do not have a means.
Revathi, part of the 4x400m Indian mixture relay team, lost his parents when he was seven years old and grew up by his grandmother who worked as a daily bet.
He began to run sojourn without footwear because buying a pair of shoes was the luxury that was unable to his family.
During the zonal meeting at the Mgr Racing Course Stadium in Madurai in 2014-15, K Kannan, the coach at the Development Authority of the Development Center for Tamil Nadu (SDAT) in Madurai, saw Revathi in action.
Even though he didn’t win the program, Kannan saw a spark at that time 17 years old and wanted to train him.
(Revathi with his grandmother – Twitter photo) “I saw this young girl ran barefoot and was impressed with his steps.
I found where he lived and decided to leave and meet him.
Grandma Revathi politely refused my offer to train it because she felt it would expensive.
They come from poor families and are reluctant to pursue full time sports, “Kannan recalls.
“I can’t afford the bus fee around Rs 40 from my house to the training center but Pak Kannan is persistent,” Revathi said.
Some efforts from Kannan finally saw Grandma Revathi surrendered.
Not only coach Kannan Revathi without imposing a fee, he also helped him get a free entrance ticket in Lady Day College, Madurai.
The first biggest challenge for Revathi is running with shoes.
“Even though Kannan Sir made me shoes, I was comfortable running without footwear.
During a period of time, I learned to run with shoes,” Revathi said.
(Photo source: Twitter) When the breakthrough arrived in 2016 when he won a gold medal in 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay on the Nationals Junior in Coimbatore.
“The special performance made me realize that Revathi was intended for greater things,” Kannan said.
Revathi was trained by Kannan until 2019 before he shifted his base to Patiala to be part of the National Camp.
While he mainly ran at 100m and 200 m in the early phase of his career, Revathi became a quarter of the Miler thanks to Galina Bukharina, India’s 400m coach.
In 2019, Revathi won 400m women in India Grand Prix 5 and 6 each (respectively, 54.44 and 53.63 seconds.
# Tokyoolympics07 days to leave.
Ms.
Revathi Veeramani of the Madurai District of Tamil Nadu Currently working on …
https://t.co/vfw6uzoyk4- The Railway Ministry (@RiminIndia) 1626406953000A Knee injury distance him away during the first part of the current season but Revathi made him a comeback to win the 400m event at the Indian Grand Prix 4 months ago.
Experiments Finally, to choose the 4x400m relay event see Revathi finished above with a time of 53.55 seconds.
The trip to Tokyo also means revathi’s wedding talks placed in the backburner for now.
“My grandmother had plans to get married but thanks to the Olympics, she had changed my mind and wanted I continued what I did, “said Revathi, who was hired as a ticket collector with a southern train in Madurai.