Renjith Maheshwary will be representing India in the triple jump event at the 2016 Rio Olympics. After disappointing shows in the previous two Olympics, the experienced athlete is training hard to clinch a medal at the Games in his event and make the country proud. Let us now take a look at 10 facts about Renjith:
1) Renjith Maheshwary was born on 30 January 1986 in Kottayam, Kerala. He was interested in athletics right from his childhood and attended a summer camp organised by the Kerala Sports Council as a 9-year-old. Seeing his knack for athletics and his enthusiasm, his coach VA George encouraged him to take up athletics seriously and train hard in the triple jump.
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2) He met VS Surekha, a pole vaulter from Kerala who holds the national record in pole vaulting at the Asian Games Camp in 2004 and married her in 2009. They couple have a daughter named Jhiya Renjith.
3) Renjith works in the Southern Indian Railways as Chief Ticket Officer, and his wife works as reservation supervisor. He has a younger brother named Abhijit, and a younger sister named Adheena.
4) He represented India for the first time internationally at the 2006 Asian Games where he had a decent performance as he finished fourth. The then 20-year-old took this as a learning experience, and started improving his game and rectified his flaws.
5) He had a great show for his country at the 2007 Asian Championships where he won the gold medal with a jump of 17.19 metres in the triple jump event. His hard work and perseverance finally paid off as he performed better than his record iin the previous year.
6) The triple jumper had also represented India at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, where he won the bronze medal in the triple jump event as he finished third.
7) He made the country proud have clinching the gold medal in the 2012 Asian Grand Prix. He even participated in the 2007, 2011 and 2013 editions of the World Championships but could not manage to qualify for the finals in any of the editions.
8) He is going to be a three-time Olympian with his participation at the 2016 Rio Olympics, having already represented the country in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2012 London Olympics in the triple jump event.
9) He had set a national record at the 2010 Commonwealth Games with a personal best of 17.07 metres which stood till 2014 until it was broken by Arpinder Singh.
10) He had tested positive for a stimulant after the 2008 Rio Olympics but was later let off with a 6-month suspension. He had a dismal show in Beijing with a best of 15.77m. Renjith had also committed three consecutive foul jumps in the qualifying stage of the London Olympics, which had raised questions over his participations in the Games.
