Indian Olympian Dhanalakshmi Sekar was inconsolable as she learnt about the death of her sister while she was in Tokyo for the Olympics. Dhanalaskhmi and another sprinter Subha Venkataraman returned to Gundur village near Tiruchirappalli in Tamil Nadu from the Games on Saturday and it was not a happy return for Dhanalakshmi. Even though they were welcomed by people around them in a grand manner, Dhanalakshmi broke down about hearing the news.
Dhanalakshmi was a reserve for the 4x400m mixed relay team of which Subha was a part. She had qualified as a reserve for the team after she performed well during the trials at the National Institute of Sport (NIS) in Patiala earlier this year.
When Subha and Dhanalakshmi returned home, the latter learnt about the death of her sister due to an illness while she was in Tokyo. The news was kept from her because her family wanted her to focus on the Olympics. But she broke down and fell to her knees when she learnt about the tragedy upon her return.
With her face cupped in her hands, Dhanalakshmi cried over the death of her sister, who had been a huge support for her.
Dhanalakshmi had put a sensational performance during the selection trails at NIS, beating PT Usha’s record in the 200m heats while winning gold against Dutee Chand in the 100m race.
The ‘Gundur Express’ set a new record of 23.26 seconds in 200m, breaking a 23-year old record of ‘Payyoli Express’ or PT Usha, who had run that distance in 23.30 seconds. In the 100m, she won gold with a timing of 11.39 seconds.
Born into a poor family, Dhanalakshmi lost her father Sekhar early in her life. It was her mother Usha who took care of Dhanalakshmi.
“The initial days were very tough to make the ends meet. In addition to that, there were expenses to be incurred to participate in meets,” Dhanalakshmi had told. “Amma used to pawn some gold to raise money to meet my sporting expenses,” she added.
Usha who is into farming had immense faith in her daughter Dhanalakshmi and continued to support her even when others uttered discouraging words pointing out the poor financial conditions.
Initially, Dhanalakshmi was into kho-kho but it was her physical education teacher in school who suggested her to switch to sprinting. Dhanalakshmi then decided to train under a medal-winning Indian Railway athlete 31-year-old Manikanda Arumugam in Tiruchirappalli and is now an Olympian.
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