Her stand vindicated by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, 19-year-old Odisha sprinter wants to set the racetrack on fire all over again. Dutee was banned for failing the gender test.
Going by the troubles she's had over the past couple of years, you can only sympathise with sprinter Dutee Chand. Hailing from a humble background, the 19-year-old was thrown out of the Indian contingent just before the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games. She was called names, labelled an outcast and even deserted by her own national federation.
From being hailed as India's next sprint queen to getting banned for failing an alleged "gender test", Chand has seen it all. But despite all the adversities, she never gave up hope.
The daughter of weavers from Odisha's Jajpur district, she decided to challenge the International Association of Athletics Federation's (IAAF) policy on hyperandrogenism, a condition which produces high testosterone levels in female athletes.
She took her fight to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne, Switzerland. She also continued to train hard in Hyderabad.
After successfully overcoming a 10-month struggle against this draconian policy of the IAAF, Chand is back on track with her head held high. The CAS suspended the hyperandrogenism regulations of the world athletics body for two years while granting Chand permission to compete in both national and international events.
The CAS ruling said that there was no clear evidence that she might have benefited from her condition of having enhanced testosterone levels than others.
"Life has given me a second chance. It's like a rebirth. The cloud of uncertainty has now disappeared and I can now concentrate on qualifying for the Rio Olympics and hopefully winning a medal there. It's been a painful few months where I had to prove to my country that I'm a girl, not boy," Chand told dna on Tuesday.
Dutee said she has seen the worse and now wants to prove her critics wrong by winning a medal at the Olympics next year.
"I know people started suspecting whether I was a woman or a man. My friends asked me what's wrong with my body. They started to avoid me. During training, where girls used to share rooms, I was kept separately," she said. However, she always knew she was going to win the case.
"I never thought I would lose, because I always knew I was not at fault," she said, adding, "I am very thankful to the judges that they have taken a close look at my case and given the decision in my favour. I have got justice. I am a normal girl. I am sure I will be able to do something big in the next five years. But winning a medal in Rio is my first priority," said Dutee.
Meanwhile, CAS has asked the IAAF to provide more scientific evidence about the quantitative relationship between enhanced testosterone levels and improved athletic performance in hyperandrogenic athletes. And during that time, Chand and others like her will be allowed to compete at the international level.
Chand wants to be included in TOPS
Dutee Chand has requested the Union sports ministry to include her name in the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS). "I need the TOPS funding in order to get back to my top performance. If I train here in India, it will take me eight to nine months to return to my best, but if the ministry sends me to a foreign location for a competition-cum-training programme the TOPS, my performance can improve before the Olympic qualifiers next year," Chand told dna on Tuesday.
Dutee's recent timings of 11.79 seconds in 100 metres and 24.01 seconds in 200 metres are way below her personal best marks of 11.63 seconds and 23.56 seconds respectively. "I need to touch the minimum qualification mark of 11.20 seconds in 100 metres and 23.20seconds in 200 metres in order to qualify for the Rio Games. That's where TOPS would prove to be beneficial," she added.
However, according to a top ministry official, it won't be easy to add Chand's name in the list for the simple reason that "her performance has dropped drastically over the past few months" while she was busy fighting her case in the CAS. "There is a TOPS committee which needs to take a call on her inclusion. Much will depend on her performance in future events as she has to pull up her socks and start clocking impressive timings. Right now, she is nowhere near her personal best," the official said. Chand hopes to make a comeback in the National Open Athletics Championships in Kolkata from September 16-19.
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