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Indian sprinter Deepthi Jeevanji brought home India’s third track medal at the Paris Paralympics 2024 as she clinched a bronze medal on September 3. The world champion secured third podium finish in women’s 400m T20 final with a timing of 55.82. Jeevanji got off to a brilliant start in the final and stunned with a reaction time of 0.164 seconds. Ukraine's Yulia Shuliar and Turkey's world record holder Aysel Onder won gold and silver, respectively.
Notably, Jeevanji was 0.66 seconds behind the gold medal winner. Before her, Preethi Pal won two bronze medals in women’s T35 100m and 200m sprints. Jeevanji won gold medals in Para Asian Games and the World Championships. The 20-year-old sprinter was born in the Kalleda village of Waranal district in Telangana. Deepthi battled several obstacles in her life, including poverty and intellectual impairment.
Deepthi’s breakthrough performance came at the Hangzhou Asian Para Games in 2023 where she won the gold medal with an Asian record of 56.69 seconds. Earlier this year in May, the Indian athlete set a world record of 55.07 seconds in the 400m T20 sprint at the World Para Athletics Championships in Kobe, Japan, where she secured the gold medal and qualified for the Paris Paralympics.
Deepthi’s coach N Ramesh had told PTI, “She was spotted in a school meet through a PE teacher in Warangal. When I told them to send Deepthi, they said they didn’t have money for bus fare. I told them to just board a bus and give me the phone number of the conductor. After that, I explained to the bus conductor to let her board the bus and told him I would pay the fare when she reached Hyderabad. During the 130 km journey from Warangal to Hyderabad, I kept calling the bus conductor inquiring about her safety.”
