CHENNAI: Listening to swimming prodigy Dhinidhi Desinghu speak feels like a breath of fresh air. The 16-year-old's clarity of thought and high self-regard are typical of the next-gen athlete. In an hour-long virtual interaction with reporters, she was keen on explaining the smallest of things — from 'her competitive spirit from school', to what the country needs to do to match with the swimming powerhouses like Japan and Australia. Fresh off her historic double bronze medal haul (100m and 200m freestyle) at the ongoing Youth Olympics, the Bengaluru teenager had a lot to share about her trip in Senegal recently. "Going into the (women's 100m freestyle event), I didn't have much expectation for me, but one thing I knew was that everybody was going through the same thing (harsh weather conditions) and I wasn't different from everyone else. I clocked 56.8 seconds, which is very close to my PB (personal best), and I hadn't done below 57 seconds in the heats ever. I wanted to get gold or go under 55 seconds and it took me days to realise that I got a bronze medal," she said in an interaction facilitated by SAI.
She was in the top five in the first 75 metres and ‘just went for it in the final 15-20 metres.' "I believed that I was doing well for 50 metres; not too fast, but I knew I was behind because I saw the girl to my left and she was still ahead of me. The last stretch, I just didn't breathe, I put my head down and went for it. And yeah, somehow just got that bronze. At that point, it didn't really hit me that this was India's first medal at this meet in swimming," she recollected. But in the lead-up to her 100m freestyle final, she met 2012 Olympic champion Chad Le Clos — also known as the Michael Phelps of South Africa — and was awestruck by him. Clos, who came to the gallery with his family, gave Desinghu a pin. "My mother saw him when I was downstairs doing my physio and I took a photo like any other fan would. Then, he called me back, and I didn't understand why. I thought maybe I dropped something, but he gave me a pin. You don't expect somebody who's this great to give you something for free. He said 'I'm hoping for you to win your 100'. You don't really get to exchange pins with one of the greatest swimmers of all time," she said. She revealed that a 30-second conversation with him gave her a confidence boost. He wished me the best and said he will watch me in the final," she said.
Life as student
Apart from being a star in the pool, Desinghu, is also bright in academics. "I finished my 10th grade this year and I was so behind on my academics and I still did quite well. I got around 93 per cent which is good but I was not happy about — I expected around 97 or 98," she said. Currently in class 11, she is preparing for her upcoming midterms. She opened up on the difficulties managing academics and time in the pool.
"It's honestly demanding to do sport at such a level and take a stream like science that is also really mentally demanding and requires a lot of time and effort. It's not easy to switch your brain on and off from these and it is very difficult. I know that I chose this and I'm supposed to do well in it because I want to do well in my school as well. So, I'm trying to focus on that right now. Day-to-day, I don't really force myself to study. I just try whatever I can on the weekends and just hope that it's good enough for me," she explained.
When asked about whether she misses out on being a teenager, she said she is trying to look at it from a different perspective. "I have realised this is something that I chose to do. I want to be good at it and if you have to do that, you have to sacrifice. For me, it was more of a choice. I enjoy it because I know that this is what it takes. At one point I didn't really miss that because there are so many people doing the same normal childhood and school life. This is something, so not everybody does. It is a one in a million kind of thing," she explained.
