00:02Imagine being born in a place where becoming an international athlete feels almost impossible.
00:11No expensive academy, no professional training setup, no guarantee that anyone will even notice
00:18your talent. But sometimes a dream doesn't care about your circumstances. This is the story of
00:26Dutichand. Born in a small village in Odisha, Dutti grew up in a financially struggling family.
00:35Sport was not a luxury they could easily afford. But Dutti discovered something very early. She
00:44could run. And more importantly, she could run faster than almost everyone around her. As a young
00:51girl, Dutti started training on whatever ground she could find. There were no glamorous facilities,
00:59no perfect running tracks, just determination, hard work, and a dream that kept getting bigger.
01:07She slowly began winning local races, then state-level competitions, then national competitions.
01:15People started noticing the girl from Odisha who could outrun almost everyone in her path. It
01:23looked like her biggest challenge would be becoming faster. But Dutti was about to face a challenge
01:31that had nothing to do with running and it would put her entire career at risk.
01:38In 2014, Dutti was ruled ineligible to complete internationally under the hyper-androgenism
01:48regulations. Suddenly, the athlete who had spent years training to reach the world stage couldn't
01:55even compete. Imagine that you work for years to reach the starting line and then you are told you
02:03can not run. For Dutti, this wasn't just about losing a competition. It was about losing the
02:09career she had built her entire life around. But instant of quietly accepting the decision,
02:16she decided to fight it. Dutti challenged the regulation at the court of arbitration for sport.
02:23And in 2015, the court suspended the regulations, allowing her to return to competition.
02:31After everything she had gone through, Dutti was back. But she wasn't simply returning to the track.
02:38She was returning with something to prove. And then came one of the biggest moments of her career.
02:46In 2016, Dutti Chen became the first Indian woman in decades to qualify for the 100 meters at the
02:55Olympics. She represented India at the Rio Olympics. Think about the journey.
03:00A girl from a small village with limited resources, whose career was almost taken away,
03:07was now standing on the Olympic stage.
03:10So, I'll let you know.
03:13And also, I'll see you next time on the American Spirit.
03:17We'll see you next time.
03:17You
