On Monday, Dhinidhi Desinghu slapped the touchpad, lifted her goggles and looked up at history. The 16-year-old became the first Indian swimmer to win a medal at the Youth Olympic Games.
Swimming in lane three in the 100m freestyle final in Dakar, the Bengaluru teen was not in contention at the halfway mark. The race appeared to belong to Turkey, Croatia and New Zealand.
But over the final 15 metres, Dhinidhi summoned a remarkable burst of speed, going past Turkey’s Beren Basaran in lane 6, and into Indian swimming history. She won bronze with a timing of 56.27secs, a national record. It bettered her own previous record – 56.57s – set at the Senior National Championships in June.
The gold and silver went to Croatia’s Ana Bobanovic and New Zealand’s Alyssa Lawson, respectively.
Earlier in the day, Dhinidhi topped her heat clocking 56.80s, becoming the first Indian female swimmer to make the Youth Olympics final.
The 100m freestyle isn’t her primary event.
“It’s brilliant that she could win a medal in this event and break her own national record by a sizeable margin. It really puts her in a great position to medal in her main event, the 200m freestyle,” coach Nihar Ameen told HT. She holds the national record in the women’s 200m freestyle with a timing of 2:01.81, set at the Asian Age Group Championships in July.
Most athletes go from the Youth Olympics to the Olympics. Dhinidhi is doing it the other way around. Having competed in Paris at 14, she’s competing at the Dakar Youth Olympics at 16, with considerably more experience and greater expectations.
She was the youngest member of the Indian contingent at the 2024 Paris Olympics. “Paris was more of a life experience. I was overwhelmed with so many other things than just what was happening in the pool. I was like a kid at a candy store…Youth Olympics feels more intense, more serious with a lot more expectations and pressure. We’ve put a lot of work into it. Since it’s happening towards the end of the year, all the training was with this competition in mind,” Dhinidhi told HT.
Dhinidhi went from hating to be in the water when she was younger to growing to love it and becoming India’s fastest female swimmer. Aside from being gifted, for someone still in the weeds of teen years, Dhinidhi comes across as remarkably clear headed. A Class 11 student, she journals when her thoughts feel overwhelming and mind muddled, and is okay to trade a regular teen life for the path she’s chosen.
Before she headed to the Senegal capital, Dhinidhi believed the conditions might work for her.
“I generally like outdoor pools. That’s what we usually get here in India. Most of the world has indoor pools for big competitions. In Dakar, the pools are completely outdoor, which might be good for me.”
Silver for judoka Khushbu
Fifteen-year-old judoka Khushbu Rajakbhai Darjada claimed a silver, after running into a formidable opponent in Germany’s reigning cadet world champion Jolina Reinhold in the women’s 63kg final. The Indian who stood just one victory away from a historic gold medal saw her challenge meet a swift end as Reinhold pinned her to the mat and secured an ippon, walking away with the gold.
Thangjam Tababi Devi is India’s only other judo medallist at the Youth Olympic Games, her silver coming in the women’s 44 kg at the 2018 edition in Buenos Aires.