India's hidden marathon star: the origins of O.P. Jaisha

O.P. Jaisha has been through a lot of hardships to get where she is today in the Indian running scene

Jaisha Orchatteri Puthiya Veetil, commonly known as O. P. Jaisha, is an Indian track and field athlete from Kerala. She is also the current national marathon record holder, a feat she achieved when she clocked 2:34:43 at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing, Jaisha bettered her own mark of 2:37:29, which she set at the 2015 Mumbai Marathon. She is also a former national record holder in the 3000 metres steeplechase.

The youngest of four daughters born to PK Venugopalan and OP Sreedevi in Mananthavady in the Vayanad district of Kerala, Jaisha had a normal childhood until a bus accident left her father bedridden and forced her mother to take care of the whole family. Jaisha was only five at the time.

On the hardships she faced in life, she said it was hard most days with the family not having enough to eat, but they contributed to her becoming the athlete she is today, “Those were hard times. Many days, we could not even feed ourselves with enough. But I think it is during those days that I developed my enduring capacity and the willpower to succeed in life and face obstacles,” she told The New Indian Express

Her mother went through immense struggles to bring the girls up, as her efforts fell short many times. Despite the many hardships she faced, however, Jaisha had a keen interest in sports from a very young age during her school days.

While a student at the Government Higher Secondary School in Thrissilery, she proved her talent in athletics. Representing the school at the Kerala State School Athletics Championships, Jaisha brought home several laurels, which got her admission to the Kerala State Sports Council’s sports hostel based at Assumption College, Changanassery.

Jaisha started competing in middle and long distance events at school and in 2005 entered the Indian national camp. During this period, she represented India at the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games and also broke several national records.

When Belarussian coach Nikolai Snesarev, India’s national running coach, recommended that she focus on the more grueling marathon races instead of the shorter formats, Jaisha took the advice with an open mind and changed from the shorter events she used to participate in.

“It was very difficult to make the shift from short distance to long distance runs. But when I think of the hardships my family and I had to face, I feel these difficulties are nothing compared to the real life ones,” Jaisha would say about her changeover to running Marathons.

Following her performances on the track, Jaisha secured a job with the Indian Railways. She is married to Gurmeet Singh, a former athlete and coach, who mentors her during her time away from the national camp.

Jaisha took up long distance running just 10 months ago and has improved by leaps and bounds, according to Gurmeet the only change was the increase in weekly mileage during practice sessions. Jaisha, Lalita Babar and Sudha Singh run over 250 km each week under Snesarev’s guidance. “When she was running shorter distances, she’d only cover about 110 km a week. So it’s more than doubled. She’s also had to learn to use her speed wisely,” Gurmeet said.

Since taking up long distance running, Jaisha has won the, Mumbai Marathon, breaking a 20-year record in the process. During the World Championships at Beijing she finished in 18^th with a time of 2 hours 34 mins and 43 seconds, beating her previous best of 2:37:29. Breaking her own national record in just her second race in an event, she has just started off at shows how she has announced her presence on the marathon field.

She now heads to the Rio Olympics in 2016 after a stellar performance at the World Championships.