“I can’t believe that is me,” Hima Das said on watching videos the U20 World Championship gold medal race she ran in Finland in 2018.
Adidas now manufacture custom-made shoes for Hima Das with her name printed on them but the country’s top sprinter on Sunday revealed that there was a time when she used to scribble the name of the famous brand on her sub-standard spikes.
During an Instagram chat with Indian cricketer Suresh Raina, the top quarter-miler, who is currently at the NIS in Patiala, said her father, a farmer, bought normal running shoes with spikes for her first competitive race.
“When I started running, I ran barefoot. But in my first Nationals, my father brought running shoes with spikes on them. It was just a normal pair of running shoes. I wrote ‘Adidas’ on the shoes with my hand. You never know what fate can do, Adidas is now making shoes with my name,” the 20-year-old said.
After Hima won the 400m gold in the 2018 World U-20 Championships in Finland, the top German brand roped her as their brand ambassador and later made custom-made shoes for her that has her name on one side and ‘create history’ on the other.
It was a very insightful session @HimaDas8. Not just me, many more peole who joined us today must have gotten inspired by you. You are a role model for all the girls who want to do something extraordinary & achieve their goals. Keep it up & lots of success for everything ahead. https://t.co/twpZEAbTKl
— Suresh Raina🇮🇳 (@ImRaina) April 26, 2020
Hima Das, speaking about her rise in the last two years, said she could not believe the number of people who had come to receive her at the Guwahati airport when she came back to India after a long period of competing at the World Championships and the Asian Games in 2018.
Suresh Raina told her that she is an inspiration for many women in the country for the way she has risen from the rice fields of Assam to become an international star in athletics in such a short time.
“Not just me, many more peole who joined us today must have gotten inspired by you. You are a role model for all the girls who want to do something extraordinary & achieve their goals,” he tweeted later.
(With PTI inputs)