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TN runner Revathi overcomes poverty and patriarchy to secure a place in Olympics
Revathi has been training now without a day off from a German coach. Arammal works as a cook with Kannan for five of his student athletes who live with his family
Chennai: V Revathi sprinted 400 metres in 53.55 seconds coming first in the trials on Sunday and be picked for the Tokyo Olympics in the mixed 4x400 metres relay. But, her journey toward this achievement had been arduous, overcoming poverty and patriarchy.
She was 7-year-old when her father died and a year later she lost her mother. Revathi and her younger sister, a football player, were raised by their maternal grandmother, Arammal.
The sisters lived and studied in a government-run hostel cum school in the district, while their septuagenarian grandmother worked as a labourer under the MGNREGA scheme in Madurai’s Sakkimangalam village. Arammal was key to Revathi pursuing competitive athletics.
“She sent us to study from a hostel because of our poverty,” says Revathi, who is training at Sports Authority of India’s centre at Patiala in Punjab. She has been training for the Olympics from the Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sports for the past two years. “She used to visit us at least once a month. Everyone else had parents who visited the hostel every week. My sister and I used to feel very sad looking at that. And, today this wouldn’t have been possible for me without paati (grandmother in Tamil).”
Revathi, now 23, had won several medals from track events in school. It was when she was in class 12 during a zonal competition where her talent was identified. “We obviously couldn’t afford shoes so I used to run barefoot. After the event Kannan sir came up to me and said, ‘I will buy shoes for you. Will you come for training every morning and evening?’” Revathi recalls. She declined because she couldn’t afford a bus fare of ₹40 to the Sports Development Authority stadium in Madurai’s Race Course where K Kannan was the coach.
So Kannan made another offer to fund her college education and hostel accommodation at Lady Doak College which was walking distance from the stadium. Revathi’s grandmother agreed and she graduated with a BA in Tamil.
“Every time I won a medal, paati used to show it to the villagers but they in turn scolded her for letting a girl run like a boy,” says Revathi. She adds that they would suggest her grandmother to rest at home by either getting the sisters married or sending them to work. Revathi didn’t face much of these pressures directly as she had been living in hostels since class 2. “I really don’t know how paati stood up to them. Most of them in my village aren’t educated. But she wanted us to study and she told us that we should do what we want to do.”
Arammal has toured cities like Chennai to watch her granddaughter run. “She cried every time,” says Revathi. “She’d ask, ‘Do you have to run under the scorching sun? Do you have to run so fast?”. Kannan had helped the family financially over the years. Revathi’s fellow runners did too. “My peers would put in whatever money they could to help me fund my travel tickets for competitions. Everyone around us helped,” she says.
Financially, things are looking up for the family now after Revathi got a job last year in southern railways as a Commercial Clerk-cum-Ticket Collector. Her sister joined the Chennai police force.
“Until now we didn’t have any means. There was no other way other than running and saving prize money. So we kept running,” says Revathi. “Now even if I have some sports injury, I’ve a job to rely on.” Revathi had a right-knee injury last year which put her off action for three months.
She has been training now without a day off from a German coach. Arammal works as a cook with Kannan for five of his student athletes who live with his family. “All your hard work has been rewarded,” Arammal is said to have broken down and told Revathi over the phone after her selection. Arammal hadn’t understood what Olympics meant until Revathi had to shift base to Punjab for training.
53.55 seconds is her “personal best” so far, she says and is training to better it at the Olympics where she will compete.
Revathi is among five track runners-- Subha Venkatesan, S Dhanalakshmi, Arokia Rajiv and Naganathan Pandi--who have qualified from Tamil Nadu for the Olympics, announced on Tuesday. Chief minister MK Stalin issued a ₹5 lakh incentive for each of them on Tuesday after the announcement. Seven others including sailors, table tennis players and fencers had qualified earlier from the state.
