Santhi Soundarajan
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| Nationality | Indian | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born |
17 April 1981 Kathakkurichi, Pudukkottai District |
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| Residence | Kathakkurichi, Pudukkottai District | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alma mater | NIS, Sports Authority of India(SAI),Bangalore | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 64 kg (141 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Running | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Event(s) | 800 metres, 1500 metres | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Achievements and titles | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal best(s) |
800m: 1:55.45 1500m: 4:11.66 National record 3000m: 10:44.65 World Peace Sports Festival Ambassador -2003, Korea, All India Inter University Record Holder: 800Mtrs-2:07.68 Secs. |
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Medal record
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Santhi Soundarajan (also spelled Shanthi Soundararajan,Tamil: சாந்தி சௌந்திரராஜன், born April 1981) is an Indian track and field athlete. She is the winner of 12 international medals for India and around 50 medals for her home state of Tamil Nadu. Soundarajan is the first Tamil woman to win a medal at the Asian Games. She competes in middle distance track events. She was stripped of a silver medal won at the 2006 Asian Games after failing a sex verification test which disputed her eligibility to participate in the women's competition.
Soundarajan was born in 1981 in the village of Kathakkurichi in the Pudukkottai District of Tamil Nadu, India. Soundarajan grew up in a 20-by-5 foot hut across the road from the new home she lives in now. There was no bathroom or outhouse, nor was there running water or electricity. She is one of five children of brick-kiln labourers in a rural village in southern Tamil Nadu state; she overcame malnutrition as a child to become a middle-distance runner. Her family could not even afford a television and watched Soundarajan's Doha race at a neighbour's house. Her mother and father had to go to another town to work in a brickyard, where they earned the American equivalent of $4 a week. While they were gone, Soundarajan, the oldest, was in charge of taking care of her four siblings. Sometimes, Soundarajan's grandfather, an accomplished runner, helped while her parents were away. When she was 13, he taught her to run on an open stretch of dirt outside the hut and bought her a pair of shoes.
At her first competition, in eighth grade, Soundarajan won a tin cup trophy; she collected 13 more in interschool competitions. The sports coach at a nearby high school took note of her performances and recruited her. The school paid her tuition and provided her with a uniform and hot lunches. It was the first time Soundarajan had ever eaten three meals a day.
After high school, Soundarajan got a scholarship from an Arts college in Pudukkottai, the nearest town. and the following year, Soundarajan transferred to a college in Chennai, the state's capital, which was seven hours away. In 2005, she attended the Asian Athletics Championships in South Korea, where she won a silver medal. In 2006, she was chosen to represent India at the Asian Games (run by the Olympic Council of Asia). In the 800 meters, Soundarajan took the silver in 2 minutes, 3.16 seconds, beating Viktoriya Yalovtseva of Kazakhstan by 0.03 seconds. This win lead to Soundarajan becoming embroiled in an ongoing, unresolved debate over what makes an athlete female enough to compete as a woman.
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