Mariyappan‘s life story is one of grit, determination, hard-work and immense self-belief.
The 21-year-old para-athlete hails from a small hamlet called Periavadagampatti that is located about 50 km from Salem, Tamil Nadu.
While on his way to school one day, at the age of five, a bus ran over his leg and crushed his right knee. This accident left him permanently disabled. Yet, he knew in his heart that this wasn’t the end of his story.
Mariyappan was always interested in athletics and he took to High Jump like a duck to water. He got an opportunity to enhance his skills under the guidance of his coach, Satyanarayana who decided to train him and brought him to Bengaluru. With some sincere training he managed to secure the world number one spot in 2015.
The gold winner believes that his big toe that is deformed is his lucky charm which is what gives him extra leverage during sports competitions.
Mariyappan made news in March this year when he scaled a distance of 1.78 meters in the men’s high jump event at the IPC Grand Prix Tunisia which paved his way into Rio Paralympics since the Qualification Standard is 1.60 metres.
Mariyappan is only the third Indian to clinch Gold at Paralympics. According to NDTV, ‘T-42 is a disability sport classification for differently-abled track and field athletes with single ‘above the knee’ amputations or a disability that is comparable’.
The competition was tough, in-turn interesting. Six out of twelve athletes had cleared the 1.74 mark in the first eight attempts. But it was Mariyappan who stole the show with his remarkable leap, which turned out to be his personal best as well. Let’s learn to believe in ourselves like Mariyappan and go for the Gold.
