Hyderabad: Dutee Chand's voice exudes confidence and pride.
"There were so many things I didn't know back then but now I know," she says. Indeed, Dutee's career arc, from the banks of Odisha's Brahmani river to the world stage, is a saga of steely grit and quiet determination.
On Wednesday, Dutee qualified for the Tokyo Olympics in both 100m and 200m races via the World Rankings quota. She is nothing but proud of herself.
"I am very proud of myself. I am the only Indian athlete who has qualified in both 100 and 200 metres through World Rankings. I had already qualified for the Rio Olympics in 2016. This would be my second Olympic qualification. I am happy."
Despite all achievements, which athletes only dream of, the Odisha-born sprinter hasn't had the smoothest of run in life and in sport. From being born in a family of weavers where it was unimaginable to buy even a pair of sprinting shoes to being barred from participating in 2014 Commonwealth Games due to gender-identity controversy, Dutee has braved it all.
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Yet here she is in 2021, unvexed unlike others who have been bogged down by disruptions in their training in an Olympic year, and as casual as her childhood days when she ran carefree at the banks of Brahmani in Odisha.
Being India's best since PT Usha took the world by storm, a burden has now been lifted off her shoulders. And Dutee understands the expectations people have from her.
"All I can do is work hard, the rest is up to almighty. It's not in my hands," she tells Etv Bharat over the telephone.
But certain of giving everything she can to the sport she has loved when she was a teenager as the world's biggest sporting event, the Olympics, beckons.
"I expect good things. If I perform well, I should be able to get into the semi-finals and subsequently finals. I understand people are expecting me to get a gold medal and I will try my best. I am putting in all the hard work I can," Dutee says.
Under the wings of her coach, Ramesh Nagapuri, Dutee is devoting a good six to seven hours to her training followed by a 10-12 hours of recovery period at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. For Olympics qualification, there were 22 spots available in 100m and 15 in 200m via World Rankings route. Dutee's overall position of World No. 44 in 100m and World No. 51 in 200m were well within the ranks to make her eligible to fly to Tokyo next month.
If an athlete fails to breach the direct qualification standards for the Olympics then the World Athletics rankings provides an alternate route to qualify. The method takes into consideration the top five performances of an athlete during the qualification period with the standard of a competition fetching more points in the ranking system.
Before this, Dutee failed to secure a direct Olympic qualification spot after she finished fourth in the women's 100m final at the ongoing 60th National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships.
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And now, she is giving everything in her chase for an elusive medal at the Olympics.
Under the wings of her coach, Ramesh Nagapuri, Dutee is devoting a good six to seven hours to her training followed by a 10-12 hours of recovery period at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, Odisha.
Dutee's focus remains to improve her record of 11.17 seconds that came at the Indian Grand Prix on 21 June in Patiala last week where she missed the Olympic qualification by a meagre 0.02 seconds margin.
She says, "I will try to better my personal best in the Olympics. My coach has been guiding me well. We start at 6 am in the morning and continue till 10 am. We resume again at 11 am and train for an hour before we start training in the evening from 4 to 6 pm. I am hoping for a good performance in Tokyo."
A rigorous training schedule comes in the back of a strange start-stop year due to the pandemic that paralysed every facet of life. But Dutee, who was stuck inside her apartment for a month, remained unfazed, trained in her room and "never faced any blockades''.
"It was difficult in 2020 when the government announced the lockdown. Everything was closed. I had to sit at home for over a month. But I did whatever I could. I exercised in my room. When the lockdown was eased in 2021, I resumed my preparation in June. I focussed on my training and the government also opened Kalinga Stadium for me to practice," Dutee says.
Dutee will be participating in her second Olympics. "Experienced" of the rigamarole this time, Dutee's belief in herself comes from her participation in various competitions after Rio as she aims to clock 11.10 in the mega event.
"I didn't have much experience during the Rio Olympics. I hadn't played many international matches. I had only participated in a national championship in Pune prior to that.
"At the moment I am equipped with big international tournaments -- Asian Games, World Championship, etc. The experience is good after participating in so many tournaments. Whatever I couldn't do in Rio, I will try to do it here. There were so many things I didn't know back then but I know now," the 25-year-old informs this website.
And Dutee will not be tinkering with any aspect of her training now that she will be running at the biggest stage for the second time.
"Preparation will be the same. There will not be any changes. I hope to give a good performance," Dutee signs off.
-- By Ayushmaan Pandey
