Indian Gold medalist Mariyappan Thangavelu has donated a sum of Rs. 30 lacs from the prize money he was awarded by the Tamil Nadu government to the school he studied from.
Thangavelu, who hails from Tamil Nadu, became only the third Indian to win a gold medal in the Paralympics when he left beat world champion Sam Grewe of the USA in the menT-42 High Jump event in Rio. He is also distinguished for being the first Indian to bring a medal in high jump. In the history of the Paralympics, swimmer Murlikant Petkar in 1972 and javelin thrower Devendra Jhajharia in 2004 are the other two Indian athletes who have clinched gold.
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Thangavelu was only five years old when a speeding bus hit his right leg, leaving him a permanent disability. An otherwise shy and reserved guy, he was disciplined when it came to his training, braving wounds in his handicapped leg. After training continuously for hours, his leg would hurt and result in open wounds that would take a couple of weeks to heal, his coach revealed after the jumper’s historic feat. He trained under K. Elamparithi, the athletics coach at Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu.
“He was participating and winning in school and inter-collegiate events. I changed his high jump technique to Finsbury Flop from belly roll. After that his performance started climbing up along with the pole height,” Thangavelu’s coach said.
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A holder of Bachelor’s in Business Administration (BBA) degree, Thangavelu is yet to find himself a job.
Winning in his sport, however, is not new to Thangavelu. The athlete bagged a gold medal at the IPC Tunisia Grand Prix when he jumped his PB of 1.78m which also ensured his berth at the Rio Paralympics.
The Paralympian’s decision to donate Rs. 30 lacs comes as a heart-warming piece of news because he earned the prize after living in the shackles of poverty all his life. Born to a vegetable seller, Thangavelu’s mother had taken a loan of Rs. 3 lac for his post-accident surgery, a debt the family can finally get rid of.
The Indian sports ministry and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalitha both announced cash rewards of Rs 75 lakh and Rs 2 crore respectively for the gold medalist.
Thangavelu will also be India's flag bearer at the Rio Paralympics closing ceremony on September 18.
