Most of Bhavani Thekkada’s competitors grew up on skis. She grew up on a coffee farm — in southern India.
So as a cross-country skier, she is a little behind.
Thekkada has been hitting European tracks in the past few weeks trying to keep her Olympic dream alive. She is a longshot to qualify for the Milan Cortina Winter Games, but she is reaching some other goals along the way.
Photo: AP
“I will be really grateful and happy if even one person out there in India is inspired by my journey and wants to do skiing, which already people are — I’ve been getting a lot of messages,” the 30-year-old Thekkada said.
She is chronicling her journey on social media and making headlines back home. Her bronze medal in a 5km race in Chile in September, even though just a handful of athletes competed, was hailed as India’s first international medal in women’s cross-country skiing.
Last month’s 10km FIS Cross-Country World Cup race in Finland was a reality check. In an elite field, Thekkada finished last among 81 athletes, more than 16 minutes behind the winner, Frida Karlsson of Sweden. US star Jessie Diggins finished fifth.
“The top 80 girls who were competing with me had a whole team with them. They had coaches, they had wax technicians, they had managers,” said Thekkada, who has won several national titles in India. “I was standing there with a few years of skiing [experience and] ... a couple of hours of training with some coaches.”
As it is Olympic qualification season, eligibility is flexible enough that Thekkada could get on the start line. The goal is not beating opponents — rather it is closing the time gap to improve her score.
“I may not be the best in the world, but I’m really trying to be there,” she said. “I might be a couple of minutes behind the top athletes, but then I’m also a couple of years behind [in the] training they’ve had.”
Thekkada had a similar result at last week’s 10km World Cup race in Trondheim, Norway, which leaves the upcoming event in Davos, Switzerland, as her last chance to unlock an Olympic quota spot for India.
Largely self-funded, Thekkada operates mostly independently, so she was grateful when several national teams lent a hand in Trondheim.
The Canadians and Chileans helped with waxing and training, and the Italians transported her equipment — and during the race, she heard from Diggins, she said.
“Jessie was out there cheering the loudest for me during the race. It really meant a lot to me,” Thekkada said on Instagram.
Besides media coverage in India, a member of the Indian Parliament from her Karnataka region, Tejasvi Surya, wrote on X: “Her feats make her an inspiration for the young generation.”
Thekkada has used her growing public profile to nudge Indian leaders.
After her podium finish in Chile, she wrote on X: “I hope at least now the government starts noticing [and] supporting the winter sports athletes,” and tagged Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Alpine skier Arif Khan was the only Indian to compete at the 2022 Beijing Games.
Only two Indian women — Shailaja Kumar and Neha Ahuja — have competed at the Winter Games, according to the Olympics’ Web site.
Thekkada did not see snow until she was 20.
She had become interested in mountaineering “after watching some Bollywood movies,” she said.
As a mountaineering instructor in the Himalayas, she also picked up Alpine skiing.
Then she watched the 2018 Pyeongchang Games, where Marit Bjorgen become the most-decorated Winter Olympian. The Norway great had given birth a couple of years before.
“Her journey fascinated me,” Thekkada said. “I’ve seen in the Indian community that ‘women can’t do that. Once you have a baby, once you are 30-plus, you can’t do this.’ It really motivated me so much.”
After Milan Cortina there is the 2030 French Alps Olympics.
“If not this year, then I want to push for the next four years,” Thekkada said.
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