Won’t get marriage certificate but might get married after Paris Olympics: Dutee Chand reveals plans for CWG 2022 & beyond | Commonwealth Games 2022 News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: Dutee Chand was just 18 when she came across a battle she never thought she would have to fight. She was India’s U-18 100m champion then, in absolute love with what she was doing, and more importantly, for who she was. But a medical test turned her life upside down.
In July of 2014, when the teenager in Dutee was knitting dreams to run at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games (CWG), a tumultuous development literally sent her off ‘track’. Her body was tested and found to be producing testosterone in a range associated mostly with male bodies — a condition called hyperandrogenism.
The list of India’s CWG athletics contingent was pruned from 33 to 32. Dutee, considered ineligible to compete in the female category, was pulled out of the tournament by the Athletics Federation of India, due to a rule of the governing body, the International Association of Athletics Federations (now World Athletics).
Asked to take medicines or undergo surgery to bring her testosterone levels to within the approved limit for female bodies, Dutee made a telling statement at that time: “I won’t change for anyone.”
Perhaps Dutee got that attitude to fight from her childhood days, when, as she told TimesofIndia.com, she used to be ragged by her seniors at the sports hostel. “They used to tease me by saying ‘ladka, ladka’ (boy, boy) because I had a heavy voice.”

(Twitter Photo)
Dutee, the daughter of a weaver couple from Chaka Gopalpur village in Odisha, fought through all that as well as a long drawn legal battle against the hyperandrogenism rule, which she ultimately won after knocking at the doors of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
CAS suspended IAAF’s hyperandrogenism policy.
“2014 was really tough for me, when a lot of voices were raised against my gender…I learnt that you need to stay strong because you have to fight battles at every stage in your life,” said Dutee to begin a special interaction with TimesofIndia.com.
Recalling that phase in her life made her a touch emotional, though she never lost her smile while talking about her ordeal.
And she is finally going to her first Commonwealth Games now, scheduled to begin in Birmingham on July 28.
After a forced exclusion in 2014, Dutee couldn’t make it to the 2018 CWG in the Gold Coast either. In Birmingham, she will realise that dream as part of India’s women’s 4x100m relay team.

WHY IS DUTEE COMPETING ONLY IN ONE EVENT (RELAY) AT CWG 2022?
Dutee’s timings didn’t meet the standards for inclusion in her pet event — 100m. However, she explained that she was targeting the Asian Games in China, which were unfortunately postponed due to Covid-19, more than the CWG.
“I was basically preparing more for the Asian Games. The coach said that we have more chances of winning a (individual) medal in the Asian Games. We weren’t thinking too much about the CWG. But when the Asian Games got postponed, the coach said that there is now very less time to achieve the speed (needed to be competitive in 100m at CWG).
“At the CWG, it’s tough to finish among the medals in the 100m, where athletes with personal best timings of 10.6, 10.7, 10.8 seconds compete. My body at this stage is not in that range. But at the Asian Games, you can be among the medals with a timing of 11.2 or 11.3. Last time (in 2018), I clocked 11.32 for the medal (silver in 100m in the Jakarta Asian Games),” she further shared with TimesofIndia.com.
Dutee, in fact, won two silver medals at the 2018 Asiad. The second one was in the 200m event with a timing of 23.20 seconds. And that turned Dutee into a bigger star. Four years prior to this, she had also clinched the 200m junior Asian Championships gold in Taipei in 2014.

(Photo: Dutee Chand Twitter)
CONTROVERSIES AND DUTEE
But controversial talking points seemed to always walk hand in hand with Dutee — from the 2020 BMW controversy, where she put her car on sale to raise funds for training, to her love and hate relationship with the Odisha government to the more recent revelation that she was subjected to ragging during her sports hostel days.
A revelation in May 2019 put Dutee in the eye of a storm of criticism.
She made her same-sex relationship public, and a “backlash” followed.
“In 2019, when I made my homosexuality and relationship with my partner public, I faced a lot of backlash for a few months. Many people started opposing me, many institutions criticised me saying that our culture doesn’t accept same-sex relationships. Fingers were again being raised against my gender,” the 26-year-old told TimesofIndia.com.
Dutee put up a brave face, took tough questions on her chin, but never backed down on who she is and who she wanted to be. In fact, she decided to wear her identity with pride. The most difficult part — of announcing to the world who she was — was over. Now, it was about weathering a storm.
“Most athletes fight (compete) only on the track, but we (homosexuals) have to fight battles in our personal lives as well as on the track. But I am used to it now (smiles).

MARRIAGE PLANS
Has that opposition she faced from various people towards her relationship changed into acceptance over the last three years? Dutee says it has, except for a few stray, distasteful social media posts here and there.
“Women around me are supportive now. I have no problem there. But there are instances on social media when my name is used to create a controversy, people put up bad comments about me.
“But in real life, whenever I go out, nobody talks like that. They only ask ‘when are you going to marry your partner?'” (smiles).
Same-sex marriage hasn’t yet been legalised in India. The case is still pending in the court of law. Hence, same-sex couples in India can’t enter into a registered marriage by law. In 2018, the Supreme Court of India decriminalised homosexuality.
Last December in Hyderabad, a gay couple took marriage vows in front of family and friends. Earlier this month, a gay couple in Kolkata got married in a traditional ceremony, with pictures of their marriage taking social media by storm. It was the first public gay marriage in Kolkata.

(Photo: Dutee Chand Twitter)
Dutee has all that information, as she plans to possibly marry her partner after the 2024 Paris Olympics.
“There is a plan to make my relationship permanent (with marriage), but I am still playing, I am not at home most of the time. I am either in camps or travelling to compete. So I have told her (my partner) that our relationship will continue and after the 2024 Olympics, we will see what we want to do in life. She is just 22, and I am 26. So I hope to play well for the next 2-3 years and then see,” said Dutee.
Will the couple settle abroad as the fight to legalise same-sex marriages is still on in the Indian courts?
“There is no such plan as yet…will think about all that after the Paris Olympics. It also depends on my partner, what she thinks about it two years from now.”
As far as the possibility of marrying her same-sex partner is concerned, Dutee said: “When I checked with my lawyers, they said you can’t do a court marriage (register it under law), but you can get married like it normally happens at our villages and temples. You won’t get a marriage certificate from the court. That case is pending. But if the two families are okay and supportive, you can get married.” Dutee added while talking to TimesofIndia.com.
PREPARATIONS FOR CWG 2022
For now, though, Dutee’s focus is firmly on the 4x100m relay in Birmingham.
The others on the CWG relay team are Srabani Nanda, Hima Das, Dhanalakshmi Sekar, MV Jilna and MS Simi.
Barring injuries, Dutee, Srabani, Hima and Dhanalakshmi are the four who will be on the track for India in Birmingham.

“If you look at our women’s 4x100m relay, all four of us are clocking almost the same timing,” Dutee said.
“At the inter-state competition recently, Hima Das registered 11.43 seconds (in the 100m final), Sarabani Nanda 11.53, I clocked 11.40 in heats as well as the semis. Dhanalakshmi ran 11.26 in Turkey last Feb-March. We hope to finish with a 42.90 or so timing, which should put us in with a chance to be on the podium.” Dutee said.
But who runs which leg will be decided closer to the scheduled date of the event, largely based on current form and the season’s best.
“It’s about your season best, what your timing is currently and the experience of competing together,” said Dutee answering the question.
“The coach decides based on that. It will be decided around 10 days before the event. As of now (in training), I am starting the relay, Hima Das is in the second leg, Dhanalakshmi in the third leg and Srabani Nanda in the final stretch.”
On a personal note, Dutee said: “From a fitness point of view, I am a lot fitter than before. I have clocked 11.38, 11.40, 11.44 often recently and have competed in a total of 15 races so far this year.”
DUTEE CLAIMS STATE GOVERNMENT SUPPORT IS WANING
One reason that made Dutee despondent during the conversation was the Odisha government’s waning support, as she claims.
“Earlier I was getting a lot of financial support but presently they (Odisha government) are not supporting me that much financially,” Dutee said during the course of her conversation with Timesofindia.com.

(Dutee Chand taking a selfie with Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik – Twitter Photo)
“According to the Odisha govt’s policy introduced in 2016, any international athlete (from the state) who represents the country in a big competition gets financial support. But now many who apply don’t get it.
“I also once asked ‘you made that policy to support us, then why is it not being done?’ They said ‘the number of (young) athletes has grown now. If we give to everyone, then we have to give a lot of funds. The (Odisha) govt doesn’t have that much. We have developed all this infrastructure, so that anyone who wants to use it can do so.”
Dutee claims that she had put in a request for a training fund of Rs 20 lakh but it was turned down.
“I had asked for Rs 20 lakh, not much,” she said.
THE MENACE OF DOPING – CASH AWARDS A LURE FOR YOUNGSTERS
Dutee wrapped up the conversation with a word of caution on the menace of doping in sports, especially athletics.
She suggested that the cash awards and funds allocated at times become a lure for young athletes, who then try to enhance their performance through drugs.
“With private sponsors coming in and athletes starting to get cash and financial support from the government, young athletes, in an effort to improve quickly, get drawn towards (performance-enhancing) drugs,” she said.
“Kids are not so much aware of these things, but some of those around them in the team tell them ‘if you win a medal, then you will get money from here and there, after that you can leave sports, it won’t matter’.
“Doping is prevalent more at the domestic level in India than in international tournaments…NADA (National Anti-Doping Agency) has done a lot to address the doping issue. Still, some get caught, while others don’t,” Dutee told TimesofIndia.com.