Why We’re Super Excited That Dutee Chand Just Qualified For The Rio Olympics!
By Cake Staff:
20-year old sprinter Dutee Chand has, after nailing a 100 metres qualifying race in Kazakhstan, finally qualified for the Rio Olympics — making her the second Indian woman to do so in her category (the first being the mighty P.T Usha)
Required to better the 11.32s mark to book a place in the Olympics, Dutee clocked 11.30s to pave her road to Rio. She had narrowly missed the mark during the Federation Cup National Athletics meet held in New Delhi in the last week of April, where she had clocked 11.33s and missed the Olympic quota, however, on Saturday’s qualifier in Kazakhstan, she bettered her own record and finally secured her position in the biggest sporting event of the world.
Dutee Chand has been on a roll all year, and has been making India proud in various sporting events. Just last month, her 400 m relay team set another national record at the IAAF World Challenge in Beijing. Other than that, she had also clinched the gold in both the 100 and 200m races at the Taiwan Open Athletics Championships.
Considering the turmoil and brutal allegations Chand has faced, her wins just go on to prove how indomitable her spirit is. In 2014, there were anonymous allegations that she wasn’t “female enough” due to her hyperandrogenism or high testosterone levels, which lead to an international legal battle in a Switzerland-based court challenging her disqualification from the female category. The court ruled in her favour, allowing her to compete in national and international events, and giving the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) a maximum of two years to prove that her hypoandrogenism affected her performance. Since then, she’s been working hard to get her career on track, and the hard work has definitely been paying off!
Not only has she (in a way) challenged the rigid gender binary that causes segregation in sports events, she has also proven her mettle as a sportsperson with her Olympic qualification. We’ll surely be cheering for her in the Rio Olympics, and hope that she continues to make us proud!
