CHENNAI: AT one point, national record holder and long jumper Ancy Sojan's participation at the recently concluded National inter-state senior athletics championships in Bhubaneswar was in doubt due to her hormonal issues. It is something that she has been battling for years. Shedding weight and gaining it, the fear of missing her periods and the difficult decisions over her dietary choices: those were some of the thoughts that kept playing in her mind. But on June 27th, the day of the women's long jump final at the Kalinga Stadium, Ancy exorcised those demons and rewrote history.
After a good start, where she recorded a 6.73m jump, the 25-year-old from Thrissur, Kerala broke Anju Bobby George's 22-year-old national record of 6.83m with a mammoth 6.88 metres. She recollected how the wait for the screen to show the distance felt like years. "My heart was racing. I thought maybe this could come up to 6.80 metres. But the wait seemed (for the screen to show her mark) longer,” she said, days after her feat.
Sojan felt myriad emotions in a short span of time. From screaming her lungs out in joy, she dropped to the floor in tears. “To this day, I still pinch myself about the record-breaking jump. Those tears were for the struggles I underwent and the work I put in this season,” she added. The struggles she mentioned, was of her hormonal imbalances due to Polycystic Ovarian Disease (PCOD). “To avoid hormonal imbalances, I had to give up sugary foods, items rich in carbohydrates like rice. That also meant giving up my favourite biryani. There was an instance where I placed my hands on a packet of banana chips but then I told myself to avoid it. I only got to eat carbs in competitions for energy but on training and off-days, it usually is a struggle. It was just vegetables and a chapathi.”
While dietary changes are part of athletes' transformation, Ancy opened up on hormonal issues and how it affected her body and eventually her confidence ahead of events. “I feared about missing my period," she said. "I used to stress myself on it. That I stressed about it also made me doubt myself ahead of competitions. To jump or not to jump was the constant question running in my mind,” she added.
In fact, her record-performance could not have been a possibility, because of this. “According to my menstrual cycle, I was going to get my period on the day when the finals was scheduled on June 27. I didn’t know whether I would take part in the competition. If heat rises, becomes even more difficult,” she said. But then as the final neared, the jumper had told herself, ‘If it comes, let it come.’ “But my nutritionist Isha Khedekar came to the rescue with advice on eating fruits that would cool down the body heat."
Asiad first, worlds next
In addition to breaking the national record, Ancy – silver medallist at the Hangzhou Asian Games – qualified for the upcoming Asiads at Aichi-Nagoya in Japan later this year. Her main goal for the rest of the year is to consistently jump above 6.70 metres, and to breach the seven-metre mark. “I’m hoping to perform in events outside India. Me and the coach are looking for events like the Diamond league to participate,” she said. She also has the 2027 World Athletics Championships in Beijing on the back of her head. “The qualification period will begin from August 23 this year. I hope to qualify by breaching the qualifying mark of 6.86m. If not, I hope to take part in as many events as possible, which would help me with my ‘Road to Beijing’ ranking,” she explained.
