Paralympic Medallist Deepthi Jeevanji: From Being Called 'Mental', 'Monkey' To Being Hailed As A 'Special Girl'

Deepthi Jeevanji’s bronze medal at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games makes her the first intellectually impaired Indian athlete to win a medal in the women's 400 metres (m) T20 category. Her medal was India’s sixteenth Paralympic medal at the games and sixth in the athletics category.

She is India’s first-ever athlete to compete at the Paralympics in the T20 category, which is reserved for athletes with intellectual impairments.

Deepthi finished the race in 55.82 seconds, behind Ukraine’s Yulia Shuliar and Turkiye's Ayser Onder, who crossed the line in 55.16 seconds and 55.23 seconds, respectively.

“I was very tired during the race. My body was not used to the time difference (with India)," said Deepthi. “I am very happy, so happy for this first medal at the Paralympics. My parents are also so very happy and very proud.”

Born in Kalleda village in Telangana's Warangal, Deepthi’s journey was anything but easy. According to a report in The Indian Express, she was born with a cognitive disability that hampered communication and adaptive skills. Facing significant social stigma due to her intellectual disability, she found her calling in athletics. 

“She was born during the solar eclipse, and her head was very small at birth, along with the lips and nose being a bit unusual. Every villager who saw her and some of our relatives would call Deepthi pichi (mental) and kothi (monkey) and tell us to send her to an orphanage. Today, seeing her become the world champion in a far-off country proves that she is indeed a special girl,” said Deepthi's mother, Jeevanji Dhanalaxmi, to The Indian Express.

The mother recounted that when Deepthi's grandfather died, they had to sell the farm to make ends meet. Deepthi's father, Jeevanji Yadhagiri, would earn Rs 100-150 a day, so there were days when her mother had to work to support their family, including Deepthi's younger sister, Amulya. 

“Deepthi was always a calm child and spoke very little. But when the village kids would tease her, she would come home and cry. So I would make her sweet rice or, on some days, chicken, and that's what made her happy,” her mother recalled.

Her coach, N Ramesh, reiterated the same, saying she has a calm mind and it makes their work as coaches easier. “She follows what we tell her and doesn’t complain about fatigue,” he said.

Initially discovered by her physical training (P T) coach Biyani Venkateshwaralu at the Rural Development Foundation (RDF) School, Deepthi would often do better than able-bodied students in the races. Later, she was noticed by the Sports Authority of India (SAI) coach Ramesh, who convinced her parents to send her to the SAI Centre in Hyderabad for training. 

“Her parents did not even have the bus fare to send her to Hyderabad. When she shifted here, it took me a lot of time to get her adjusted to training at the stadium. We would draw the track on paper and make her understand different tactics as well as the need to focus on competitors. A coach or fellow trainee would always be with her to make her comfortable. We had to deal with her like a child,” Ramesh told The Indian Express.

National badminton coach Pullela Gopichand suggested to Ramesh that he get her assessed at the National Institute for Empowerment of Persons with Intellectual Disabilities in Secunderabad. Later, with the help of the Gopichand Mytrah Foundation, Deepthi went for the world categorisation of her special ability in Australia and Morocco at World Paralympic events.

Deepthi began to flourish. She won the 400 m gold at the World Para Grand Prix in Morocco. She earned early recognition with a bronze at the Asian Youth Championships and gold medals at the 2020 Khelo India Youth Games. In 2023, she won the 400 m gold medal at the Asian Para Games in Hangzhou and set a new record time of 56.69 seconds, beating Thailand’s Orawan Kaising.

The crowning moment, however, came at the 2024 World Para Athletics Championships, where she clinched the gold and broke the 55.12-second record of Breanna Clark. With this, she also secured her place at the Paris 2024 Paralympics, where she now has a bronze.