Gayathri Govindaraj

Gayathry Govindharaj (born 27 April 1991) is an Indian athlete who competes in the 100 metres hurdles and Triple jump events. She was supported by Olympic Gold Quest, a not-for-profit foundation that identifies and supports Indian athletes.^[1] She works with the Indian Income Tax department. She was roughed up DMK cadres and her vehicle was damaged when raiding the premises of alleged DMK partymen.^{[citation needed]} She was later admitted in a hospital for wounds. She is famously called as "Indian Usain Bolt".

Gayathry Govindharaj

Gayathry with her Gold Medal, at the 12th South Asian Games in 2016
Personal information
Nationality	Indian
Born	(1991-04-27) 27 April 1991 (age 33) Chennai, India
Sport
Country	India
Sport	Track and field
Event(s)	100 metres hurdles Triple jump
College team	St.Joseph's College of Engineering & M.O.P.Vaishnav College for Women
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)	100 m hurdles: 13.59 s Triple jump: 13.58 m Recipient of Tamilnadu Chief Minister's Best Sports Person Award for the year 2009-10
Medal record Commonwealth Youth Games 2008 Pune 100 m hurdles 2008 Pune Triple jump 2008 Pune 4×100 m relay South Asian Games 2016 Guwahati 100m hurdles 2010 Dhaka 100m hurdles Asian Indoor Athletics Championships 2016 Doha 60m hurdles Asian Junior Athletics Championships 2010 Hanoi Triple Jump 2010 Hanoi 4x100m Relay Asian Grand Prix 2015 Chanthaburi 100m Hurdles 2015 Pathum Thani 100m Hurdles 2015 Bangkok 100m Hurdles Commonwealth Games 2010 New Delhi 100m Hurdles & Triple Jump Asian Athletics Championships 2013 Pune 100m Hurdles 2015 Wuhan 100m Hurdles World Junior Athletics Championships 2010 Wuhan 100m Hurdles & Triple Jump

Early life and education

Gayathry comes from a small village in Ariyalur district. She comes from a humble background and before she gained fame, her family found it difficult to make ends meet. Due to her economic background her parents could not afford to provide her a formal training hence was trained at St.Josephs's Sports Academy(Sponsored by St.Joseph's College of Engineering,Chennai) and she says in an interview with The Indian Express, "My parents recollect that I used to run around a lot during my childhood. In school, I used to participate in every athletic event in every tournament."^[2]

She completed her schooling from St.Ursula's A.I.Hr.Sec School, Church Park, Chennai in 2008. After securing 91 per cent in her twelfth standard , She went to pursue her Master's Degree in Business Administration from St.Joseph's College of engineering St Joseph's College of Engineering.,^[2] where, she secured 33rd Rank in Anna University among 8599 qualified candidates. Her mothers dream of pursuing Ph.D Came true, when she was awarded a Ph.D (Business Administration - Commerce) by the University of Madras in 2022, for her Inter-disciplinary thesis on "Effectiveness of Training" .

Career and achievements

After participating in various inter college sports events, she gained fame through the 18th Zone Junior inter-State athletic Championship (2006) in Raichur. She won gold in U-16 100M hurdles in this. She also broke Poonam Belliappa's 11-year-old record of 14.40 seconds in the under-18 category in the year 2016. This was followed by her another 14.04 seconds in 2008 and in Mysore she beat her own record by 0.02 seconds.^[2]

Her left knee was injured during the triple jump event of the Commonwealth Games 2010 that happened in New Delhi. After being operated on her left leg, she said in an interview with The Hindu that she has been practicing hard to be a part of sports once again.^[3]

References

1. "Saina's Hong Kong trip funded by Olympic Gold Quest". The Times of India. 15 December 2010. Archived from the original on 17 July 2013. Retrieved 16 July 2013.
2. "No hurdle is too high for Gayathri". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
3. Keerthivasan, K. (26 September 2012). "Gayathri on a comeback trail". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 27 July 2019.

External links

• Gayathry Govindharaj at World Athletics
• Gayathry Govindharaj at Olympic Gold Quest