Most of us dream of representing our country in the biggest sporting event of the world i.e the Olympics, Not all of us are able to achieve that. But for some the dream become reality much sooner than expected as is the case with the Youngest Olympian in this year Rio Olympics. Meet Gaurika Singh the 13 year old Swimmer from Nepal who is all set to be the youngest Olympian in this Olympic when she compete’s in the women’s 100m backstroke.
She will make her debut in the Olympics when she participates in the heats of women’s 100m backstroke on 7th August. Her personal best is one minute, 8.12 seconds. The fastest competitor in the event, London 2012 silver medallist Emily Seebohm of Australia, is 11 years older than Singh and enters the heats with the top time of 58.26 seconds.
It’s not surprising the London-based schoolgirl, who swims for English club Barnet Copthall, is undaunted by the prospect. She has already lived through the 2015 earthquake that devastated Nepal, leaving nearly 9,000 dead. It’s incredible how she picked her up after the incident and continue to train and impress, a disaster as big as the Nepal earthquake is good enough to get even strong willed adults unsettled, but not this little champion. Speaking about her terrifying experience she said.
We were on the fifth floor of a building that we couldn’t escape from, so we sheltered under a table for 10 minutes in the middle of the room and had to go down the stairs afterwards amid the aftershocks,Fortunately, it was a new building so it did not collapse like others around.
Her ever proud father was all praises for her child saying
She’s special,It’s unbelievable that she’s the youngest Olympian in Rio and amazing how she copes with all the pressure.”
We at Kridangan will like to wish her all the best for the Olympics and her future.
