Meet the Champions- Stories of Inspiration Series

We will be regularly sharing Inspirational stories around us to inspire and motivate everyone to never give up even when the odds are stacked against you. We are starting first with SWAPNA BARMA - GOLD MEDAL WINNER in Heptathlon , Asian Games Jakarta.

Swapna Barman - The Warrior Spirit

Heptathlon Gold

Born in to extremely humble beginnings, Swapna Barman's house is made of tin sheets. Her father works as a rickshaw puller and her mother is maid who also picks tea leaves. These extremities coupled with her physical limitations of having 6 toes on each foot could have disheartened even the best of us. Swapna Barman on the other hand chose to fight all of this and become an athlete. She trained hard for heptathlons which requires ones to be adept at multiple sports, and she did this while training shoes made for 5-toed people. The pain endured by this one person to simply train for this event is unimaginable to the most of us. Three days before the Asian Games, she discovered an innocuous tooth ache, but she was advised not to remove the tooth as it has a higher recovery period. A severe tooth ache coupled with the pain of her 12 toes in ill fitting shoes, Swapna was still undeterred and singly focused on the competition. Fighting through the pain like a true warrior, this 21 year old completed 7 grueling tasks and achieved a GOLD for her country. Post the award ceremony, she was asked how her family has been managing their financial burdens as she is the only earning member; her smiling response to that was "Main Hoon Na"