Dutee’s dream comes true, qualifies for Rio Olympics

Sabi Hussain

Tribune News Service

New delhi, june 25

In less than a year after fighting her way back to competitive athletics track by winning a landmark ‘gender’ case, sprinter Dutee Chand on Saturday qualified for the Rio Olympics in the 100m event. 

Dutee clocked 11.30 seconds in the women’s 100m heats at the 26th G Kosanov Memorial Meet in Almaty, Kazakhstan, to book the Rio ticket. The qualifying mark for the Rio Olympics was set at 11.32s.

The 20-year-old bettered her own national record of 11.33s, which she set at the Federation Cup National Championships in April. The Odisha athlete is also the first Indian woman to have qualified for the 100m in an Olympics since the qualification system was introduced in the event. 

The legendary PT Usha was the last Indian woman to have run a 100m race in the Olympics in the 1980 Moscow Games but the qualification system was not in place at that time.

Dutee becomes the 20th Indian track and field athlete to have qualified for the Rio Games.

Later in the evening, she shaved off another 0.06s of her own national record to clinch the silver medal in the 100m final with a timing of 11.24s. Local girl Viktoriya Zyabkina secured the gold medal with a timing of 11.15s, while Bahrain’s Jasim Iman Essa finished behind Dutee (11.26s).

“I am really happy at the moment. It has been a tough year for me. The hard work put in by my coach Ramesh sir has finally paid off,” said Dutee. 

“I would like to thank all the people in India who were praying for me to qualify. Their wishes have come true. I will not let anyone down at the Rio Olympics.”

Dutee had previously missed the qualification mark by one-hundredth of a second at the Federation Cup.