Olympian Dutee Chand on Friday opened up on the struggles she faced in her career and said that women are ahead in everything at the moment. Dutee’s message was shared in a video uploaded on Twitter as part of the microblogging website’s “EveryWoman” campaign for International Women’s Day, which will be celebrated across the world this Sunday. Speaking in the video, #RecordBreaker Dutee said: “When I started performing well in my village at the school level, it made me believe I could perform well and go further. When I started winning medals at nationals and for the first time, at the international level, despite being a junior, I won a medal in senior category. It filled me with confidence.”
She further went on to recall when she faced criticism from boys for choosing sports as a profession.“In the past it was just a dream when girls like me got into the team, I used to get criticized by the boys what will you do by running. Your job is to get married, have children, run the family. Then why do you want to run,” she said.
The sprinter, known to be India’s fastest woman, added: “But now, everybody says girls are winning and taking the lead. I am India’s fastest woman runner right now, after me someone else will take the lead. Right now girls are ahead in everything.”
She further recalled the toughest phase of her career when she was barred from competing against women by IAAF due to higher levels of testosterone. Dutee challenged her ban at Court of Arbitration of Sports (CAS) and won the case.
“I got the strength to fight when I faced injustice. In 2014, when there was a big issue regarding my high point jump, at the that time Payoshni Madam gave me a lot of support. I won the case and was back. A lot of people supported me during that hard time,” she said.
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