Youth medallist Dhinidhi Desinghu once dreader water, now drowning in glory

The swimmer from Bangalore claims bronze in 100 and 200m freestyle, the first for India in Youth Olympics

Dhinidhi Desinghu wasn't born to swim, but her mind has decided she is going to win big at it. So, a pair of Youth Olympics bronzes have followed at Dakar, Senegal -- a first for India at the global stage. Not too shabby for someone who doesn't dig sport much, and admits she is so un-coordinated on land that people might question if she's an 'athlete' at all. So she wouldn't go near a field, and instead, study, or play chess or something. In the water, she now feels just fine. Maybe, Dhinidhi was born to swim.

It's fairly well known that the Bangalorean grew up scared of water. Both her parents had to get into the pool to persuade her to even go under water - and 30-40 noisy splashers in the pool agitated her sense of independence. But she was hyper-competitive -which is the Swimmer's DNA helix. Competitive in the smallest of things; with a need for speed.

"Even in first grade, small exams, I would finish quickly and submit the paper. Even drawing, handwriting exams - in my mind if I finished fast, I was a winner. Till someone told me if you don't answer all questions, you fail. Even in the smallest games, if someone finished ahead of me, inside my stomach I would be boiling. I hate losing," she explained in a SAI-facilitated interaction after bronzes in 100 and 200m Freestyle.

Naturally, her first reaction after her hand touched the wall in the 200m race, was disappointment. "They didn't zoom into my face or they'd know. Yes it was PB, everything great, but I wanted either gold or to go under 1:55. It took me days to realise it was a bronze and (I should be happy)," she says.

Choosing swimming where India's history is nothing to speak of, however has helped her dial down on the competitive edginess, given results tend to sober you down.

There is clarity though in how she views the situation and the contradiction inherent in where India stands in the sport, and where she needs to reach. "Having raced with big names, I admire how they know how to race - not overspeed or over-kick in the first 50, etc. But I don't think genetically Indians can't win," she says defiantly. "It's just mentally you have to get there. We have the same two arms, two legs. We are not from another planet. I've never understood why we haven't come close to Europe, China, Japan-or US and Australia to the next level. We should be able to...why not?"

She knows the 'Why not?' acutely. She explains with candour: "We are actually so behind. By not 5-10 years, but 30-40 years. It sounds like an exaggeration when I say it, but it's not." She knows her swim-numbers. "What were World records 30-years back is what we are doing now," she says, reeling off the men's 100 breast stroke record that's still unbroken.

Swimming inflation

"Swimming inflation is a thing"- she crunches the numbers further. "Indians need to improve by 4-5% just to catch up. In women's we are far away. I hope I'm the person who can do that and change that mentality," she states. "For we've never thought we can come back with medals from the Olympics, Asian Games, and the Commonwealth," she says and adds, "But it's not 1 day magic."

The 'A' entry standard for the 200 free for the Los Angeles Olympics is 1:56.43. Dhinidhi reckons an 'A' cut by a female swimmer could catapult Swimming into prominence like cricket, badminton, athletics, hockey. "It could be bigger than a Youth Olympics medal." She has the 1:56 scribbled on a white board, behind her "pink, too girly room" door and pretty much everywhere for when she wakes up.

South African legend Chad le Clos was in the Senegal gallery, and handed her a pin and told her he would follow her 100m race. "I doubt he actually watched," she says, star-struck self-confessedly. "But he spoke as if he knew me. Or maybe it's just how he talks. I kept that pin in my pocket for both races. It's not always that a legend hands over a pin to you," she recalls. She remains a fan of Katie Ledecky who first medalled in the Olympics at 15, but continues to race. "When I saw her in person I froze. We don't see them as people who eat the same food as usual or use the same restroom!" the young Paris Olympian recalls.

Dhinidhi briefly missed the life of a teenager, before she realised with pristine clarity that she was different and cooler. She also doubted the process wondering why she was doing it all. "Last year changed all that. There's so many girls having a normal childhood - eating whatever they want, doing whatever. School, parties, movies who have 100s of 1000s of friends. But they are not special in any way. I'm one in a billion," she says unabashedly.

She once dreamt of Ivy League, and scores well even without studying 365. "I got 92.7% but wasn't happy," she says. Wanted 96. "I never wanted to stay in India, always wanted to study abroad, because my parents never did. Harvard, Yale, Princeton. The best schools. As years went by I realised it's not easy to get in. And there's better programs for swimming." Her options are open beyond NCAA, but Virginia Tech, Texas (where Bob Bowman coaches), Louisville and California, Berkley slot in well for her academics.

"If not [for] swimming I'd have been a very different person," she reiterates, threatening to pick chess if not swimming. Dhinidhi's starts have always been slow - "an area to improve" - but she finishes well. She was 5th till 75m, then went all-out to bronze. The turns have improved, the 'catch' is better. "Even small improvements of 0.3 or 0.4 medals ate the difference between a medal and not. I'll do everything needed," she promises.