Bhavna Jat: Direct selection in Olympics

Bhavna Jat who hails from  Rajasthan has overcome many obstacles and achieved this, it is an inspiring story of success in the world of sports.

She has got this success after facing many difficulties like financial constraints and taunting of neighbors.

Bhavna Jat will be representing India in the racewalking in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. There is an interesting story behind her decision to make a career in sports.

Once she participated in a district level sports competition. There was free space only to participate in racewalking.  Bhavna took part in it and thus began the career of a race walker.

Since her childhood Bhavna has been a player with strong will. She wanted to reach great heights in the world of sports. However, in the beginning, she clearly had a dilemma about  which direction to move in.

In 2009, she decided to participate in a national level school sports tournament. To be a part of the state team she had to overcome the hurdle of  district level .

Her sports teacher took her to the district level competition for the trial. After going there, she came to know that there is only one place left in the race walking. After some thought, Bhavna decided to participate in the race walking.

Bhavana Jat's father Shankar Lal Jat was a poor farmer and her mother Nosar Devi was a homemaker. Her house is in Kabra village in Rajasthan. Her family depended on farming on the two acres of land for income.

It was a difficult task for Bhavna's father to meet his daughter's training needs.

Apart from this, lack of basic facilities was also a major obstacle. This included the lack of facilities such as grounds for practicing race walking. All these obstacles made things more difficult for a budding athlete.

But she was not ready to change her mind due to these obstacles.She woke up early in the morning started practicing at a place near her village.

She had chosen the time of morning for practice so that she won't be noticed by the villagers. The villagers did not prefer girls wearing shorts.

Bhavana says that despite the pressure from society, her family stood firmly by her. Her elder brother left college and started working so that he could help Bhavna make a career in race walking.

The tendency to never give up gradually started showing color and she started winning in many local and district level competitions. After all, he joined the Indian Railways.

In 2019, she won the gold medal in the 20 km race walking in the All India Railway competition. She completed this distance of 20 kilometers in one hour, 36 minutes and 17 seconds. She says that this success boosted her confidence to perform better and try for the Olympics.

She set a new record in the National Championship held in Ranchi in 2020. She made this record by completing a distance of 20 kilometers in one hour, 29 minutes and 54 seconds. Due to this performance she also qualified for the Tokyo Olympics.

The obstacles that Bhavana faced in her career are not uncommon for female athletes in India.

Bhavna says that Indian women athletes need to be provided with more opportunities at the international level so that it helps them to improve their technique and performance.

Qualifying for the Olympics without participating in any international competition shows Bhavna's prodigious talent.

Taking part in the Olympics is a new challenge for Bhavna but she is full of hopes of winning the medal for India. A big reason for her hope is the last time she took the 20 km race walk at the Olympics.