From the bustling streets of Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, to the grand stadiums of the Olympics, Jyothi Yarraji, the phenom hurdler has overcome colossal hurdles in her athletic journey to race her way to Paris.
Fueled by grit, resilience and the relentless pursuit of dreams, Jyothi has scripted history as the first Indian woman to compete in the 100m hurdles at the Olympics. After finishing seventh in her heat at the Paris 2024 Olympics, she will now compete in the repechage round on 8 August, 2024, for a place in the semi-final.
Early life and education
Born on 28 August, 1999, Jyothi’s life was marked by simplicity and hard work. She grew up in a modest household, with her father, Suryanarayana, working as a private security guard and her mother, Kumari, as a part-time domestic help.
Their combined income was less than Rs 18,000 per month. Despite their modest means, Jyothi’s parents always gave paramount importance to education. She is currently pursuing her graduation in history at Acharya Nagarjuna University, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh.
When Jyothi was a student at Port High School in Visakhapatnam, her physical education teacher first recognised her potential. Her height and agility were seen as perfect attributes for a hurdler. After this, there was no looking back. Jyothi, motivated by a desire to support her family and driven by an emerging passion for athletics, dedicated herself to the sport.
In 2015, she first came into the spotlight after winning the gold medal at an Andhra Pradesh inter-district meet.
Five years of endless training
In 2016, Jyothi’s journey took a pivotal turn as she joined the Sports Authority of India hostel in Hyderabad, setting the stage for her illustrious athletic career. Under the mentorship of Olympian N Ramesh, a Dronacharya awardee, she honed her skills for two rigorous years.
“It took a lot of time for us to mould Jyothi into a hurdler. As I can remember, she really struggled to get tuned to the event. She was often covered in blood because of the rigorous training schedule. But hats off to her indefatigable spirit, she kept pursuing her passion between 2014-19, never complained,” Ramesh recalled.
She moved to Guntur in 2019 to join the Centre of Excellence and eventually began training under British coach James Hillier at the Reliance Athletics High-Performance Centre in Bhubaneswar, Odisha.
Her commitment showed dividends when she broke the Indian national record for the 100m hurdles on 10 May, 2022, with a time of 13.23 seconds. This achievement was just the beginning. Jyothi went on to break her own record multiple times, continually pushing the boundaries of her performance.
One historic record after another
Mirroring the obstacles she overcomes on track, Jyothi’s career as a hurdler has faced its own formidable hurdles. The COVID-19 pandemic and a debilitating back injury severely limited her participation in competitions. The following year, the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham proved disappointing as she failed to advance past the first round, finishing 10th.
Despite these setbacks, Jyothi ended 2022 on a high note by clinching gold in the 100m hurdles at the National Games. Although this time didn’t qualify as a national record due to wind assistance (+2.5m/s), it marked her as the first Indian woman to dip below the 13-second mark in the 100m hurdles. At the same National Games, she also won gold in the 100m, defeating top sprinters Dutee Chand and Hima Das, with a record-setting time of 11.51 seconds.
Her momentum continued at the National Open Athletics Championships 2022 in Bengaluru, where she bettered her national record with a time of 12.82 seconds.
In 2023, Jyothi’s impressive streak of performances continued both domestically and internationally. She secured a silver medal in the 60m hurdles at the Asian Indoor Athletics Championships in Nur-Sultan, setting a national record of 8.13 seconds. The highlight came in Bangkok, where she won gold at the Asian Athletics Championships with a time of 13.08 seconds and also earned a silver in the 200m, clocking a personal best of 23.13 seconds.
Jyothi continued to push boundaries by resetting the national record in the 100m hurdles to 12.78 seconds, winning a bronze medal at the FISU World University Games in Chengdu. This time, she narrowly missed the Olympic qualifying standard by just 0.01 seconds. Once can be chalked up to coincidence, twice as bad luck.
In May 2024, Jyothi again narrowly missed automatic qualification for the Paris Olympics by one-hundredth of a second, clocking 12.78 seconds. Despite these near-misses, she overcame the hurdle of luck and secured her spot through her ranking, making history as the first Indian hurdler to qualify for the Olympics in the 100m hurdles. With a final ranking of 34th, she earned her place among the top 40 athletes heading to the Paris Games.
The final stretch on the road to Paris
Jyothi’s personal best currently stands at 12.78 seconds, a mark she matched earlier this year at the Motonet GP in Finland despite a hard collision with the final hurdle.
As she steps onto the track at the Paris Olympics, Jyothi carries with her the hopes and dreams of millions of Indians, proving that perseverance can indeed take you places.
“I’m moving forward with a positive mindset and game plan. The preparation is very intense, and there will be strong competition. There will definitely be some pressure, but I will try to concentrate on my race and apply what I did in training to the competition. I’m focusing more on recovery and meditation to stay calm and focused for the Olympics,” she shared.
Edited by Padmashree Pande
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