KOCHI: Think of highly successful athletes and there is a tendency to elevate them to superhuman standards and consider them near-perfect.
Having achieved something that no other Indian has managed till date — winning a medal at the World Athletics Championships — Anju Bobby George can be ranked in such an elite category.
However, on Monday, she decided to share a previously undisclosed fact about herself in the hope to raise awareness and break such stereotypes that one has to be flawless to be successful like her.
The Olympian revealed in a tweet that she was born with just a kidney and was also allergic to medicines and pain-killers that makes all her achievements all the more remarkable.
"Believe it or not, I'm one of the fortunate, among very few who reached the world top with a single KIDNEY, allergic with even a painkiller, with a dead takeoff leg. Many limitations. still made it. Can we call, magic of a coach or his talent," she tweeted.
Asked about why she chose to talk about it now, the long-jump ace said it was in the hope to help others use it as an inspiration.
"Everyone is distressed due to the pandemic and all the uncertainties because of it. The reason why I decided to share this now is in the hope that it offers some motivation during such times. And if it helps athletes who have some kind of troubles and are having self-doubts because of it, then maybe it can help," Anju told this daily.
The 43-year-old, who won bronze at the 2003 Worlds, revealed that she had found out about this only in 2001 when she was trying to make it big as an athlete.
"I started seeing that after training, I was not recovering quickly. I would also faint sometimes due to allergies to medicines and pain-killers. So I decided to go for a full body check-up and found out about it. At first, I was scared because I was seeing myself as this perfect athlete and had all these dreams. I hadn't reached anywhere at the international level or yet to win all those medals. So I decided not to disclose this and just work hard and see where it took me," said the 43-year-old.
Thanks to her coach and husband Bobby George and through modified a training regimen, Anju flourished. She also bagged gold at the 2005 World Athletics Final among a series of other accolades.
"Bobby was very supportive and despite challenges like taking longer time to recover, we pulled through. This might come as a shock to many because people probably look at me as this perfect athlete. I can talk about it now because I'm mature now and can handle whatever comes with it," she said.