Humble Beginnings
I come from the dusty rural village of Chhaka Gopalpur in the Jajapur district of Odisha, where girls were married off at the age of 15-16. When I was growing up, girls were taught to stay at home and learn housekeeping. After all, a woman’s place is inside the home as caregiver and cook. I am not a commendable cook and I never knew how to keep my house clean as a child. But I could run better than most boys out in the streets.
By 2012, I had become a national champion in sprinting in the under-18 category after I clocked 11.85 seconds in the 100 metres event. A year later, I won a bronze at the Women’s 200 metres event at the 2013 Asian Athletics Championships in Pune, clocking 23.811 seconds. I also became the first Indian to become a finalist at a global athletics 100 metres competition at the 2013 World Youth Championship. In the monsoon of 2014, I brought home two gold medals at the Asian Junior Athletics Championships in 200 metres and 4 × 400 m relays.
A Rude Shock
Imagine my shock then, when a few months later, I was dropped from the 2014 Commonwealth Games contingent at the last minute after the Athletic Federation of India stated that ‘hyperandrogenism’ made me ineligible to compete as a female athlete.
At first, I didn’t even realise what had happened. I was only 17 years old at the time and growing up in a village, I had no idea about such rules. I only knew of the doping test that all athletes had to clear to appear for competitions and I had cleared them all for my previous competitions.
This time, they rejected me based on a blood test. They simply dismissed me by saying “tumhara tabiyat kharab hai”. That I was unwell. It was only later when I came home and read in the newspapers that I found out that I have become a ‘breaking news’ story. “Dutee Chand underwent a gender test and failed”, the articles screamed. I was so confused. What were they saying? That I, who had grown up as my father’s daughter, I who was insulted by my villagers all my life for playing sports despite being a girl, I who identify as a woman and always have—I was not a woman? I was later told that I have a high degree of testosterone which made me ineligible to compete with women. It was then that I learned about my condition of hyperandrogenism. I also learned that it did not stop me from being a woman.
Victories Outside the Field
But I am proud to say that the Dutee Chand v. Athletics Federation of India (AFI) & The International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) case led to the IAAF scrapping its discriminative policy against hyperandrogenism. The victory was not just for me but for all women who have faced or, in the future, may face discrimination and lifelong bans due to such rules—be it Pinki Pramanik, Santhi Soundarajan, or international athletes like Caster Semenya.
Today, as many Olympians and women sportspersons in the country are questioning the government and demanding safe spaces to play, I am forced to look back at my own struggles and fight. I know how hard it is to make one’s presence felt as a woman in a man’s world. I know how women often do not support other women in such a bid for empowerment. After all, my gender was not denied by just men but by women too who did not want to give me an equal part of the pie. I believe it was my perseverance and dedication to my sport—which is sacred—that helped me.
In Solidarity
To my fellow sportspersons protesting today, I would urge them to practice patience. Many battles can be won if only one perseveres with patience.
On the allegations raised by them, I cannot comment as I am not privy to all the details, and as member of a different sports association, it is not my place to comment on the workings of another. My support or lack of it is irrelevant. But as a woman and one who has had to fight her own share of battles in the face of official discrimination for my right to play, I believe in my fellow sportspersons and my government to follow due process and the virtuous path to justice. I hope that the government and the prime minister who campaign for ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ will not let the country’s daughters down.
(As told to Rakhi Bose)
Dutee Chand is an Indian sprinter and current national champion of the women’s 100m event
