Deepthi Jeevanji clinched the bronze medal for India in the women’s 400m T20 category final race at the Paris Paralympics 2024. Although she came up short of her best timing, Deepthi was able to finish just behind Yuliia Shuliar (55.16 seconds) of Ukraine and world record holder Aysel Onder (55.23) of Turkey to win a huge medal for his country. It was a massive moment for the para-athlete who had to overcome hostility from her neighbours who made fun of her intellectual impairment and even called her a ‘monkey’. Deepthi’s parents were even asked to sent her to an orphanage but they did not stop supporting her.
“I was born during an eclipse, so our neighbours kept speaking against me. They called me monkey and advised my parents to abandon me or leave me at an orphanage. But I ignored all the negativity and focused on my sport. It was my family’s support that helped me overcome these challenges and earn this medal. It did affect me,” Deepthi told India Today.
“Because of our financial problems, my parents had to sell the land. When I won the Asian Games medal, I bought back the land for my family,” she added.
Earlier, her parents, Jeevanji Yadhagiri and Jeevanji Dhanalaxmi, had then recalled how their daughter had to face taunts while growing up. According to a report in The Indian Express, Deepthi was born with intellectual disability, a cognitive disease hampering communication as well as adaptive skills.
“She was born during the solar eclipse and her head was very small at birth along with the lips and nose being a bit unusual. Every villager who saw her and some of our relatives would call Deepthi pichi (mental) and kothi (monkey) and tell us to send her to an orphanage. Today, seeing her become the world champion in a far-off country proves that she is indeed a special girl,” Jeevanji Dhanalaxmi, Deepthi’s mother, told The Indian Express in May.
“When my husband’s father died, we had to sell the farm to make ends meet. My husband would earn Rs 100 or Rs 150 a day so there were days when I had to work to support our family, including Deepthi’s younger sister Amulya. Deepthi was always a calm child and spoke very little. But when the village kids would tease her, she would come home and cry. So I would make her sweet rice or, on some days, chicken and that’s what made her happy.”
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