Ashwini Nachappa (born 21 October 1967) is an Indian former

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

athlete and actress from

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

. Nachappa gained fame around the start of the 1980s, when she outran

P.T. Usha Pilavullakandi Thekkeraparambil Usha (born 27 June 1964) is a retired Indian track and field athlete. She was born in Kuthali, Kozhikode, Kerala. She has been associated with Indian athletics since 1979. She has won 4 Asian gold medals and ...

on two occasions. She has been referred to as India's FloJo. In 1988 she received the

Arjuna award The Arjuna Award, officially known as Arjuna Awards for Outstanding Performance in Sports and Games, is the second-highest sporting honour of India, the highest being the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. The award is named after Arjuna, one ...

Career

Ashwini Nachappa began her career in

as a

hurdler Hurdling is the act of jumping over an obstacle at a high speed or in a sprint. In the early 19th century, hurdlers ran at and jumped over each hurdle (sometimes known as 'burgles'), landing on both feet and checking their forward motion. Today, ...

before making the switch to

sprint Sprint may refer to: Aerospace *Spring WS202 Sprint, a Canadian aircraft design *Sprint (missile), an anti-ballistic missile Automotive and motorcycle *Alfa Romeo Sprint, automobile produced by Alfa Romeo between 1976 and 1989 *Chevrolet Sprint, ...

s. She performed well at the 1981 Inter-State Championship in

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

in the under-16 category and won the 'most promising athlete of the meet' award. She trained under many coaches during the time till the late 1980s, when Sunil Abraham began to coach her. Nachappa represented India in three

South Asian Federation Games The South Asian Games (SAG or SA Games), formerly known as the South Asian Federation Games (SAFG or SAF Games), is a quadrennial multi-sport event held among the athletes from South Asia. The governing body of these games is South Asia Olympic ...

in 1984 (in

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...

; two

silver medal A silver medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc ...

s), 1986 (in

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

; two silver medals) and 1988 (in

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

, three

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

s). She participated in two Asian Games, one held in 1986 at

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

(6th in

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

) and the other in 1990 at

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

(silver medal in

4 × 100 m relay 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest c ...

). She also represented India in two

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

, one in 1987 in Rome and the other in 1991 in Tokyo (she was a member of the

4 × 400 m relay 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest c ...

on both occasions). She won the 200 m gold at the 1990 National Open Meet in

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...

ahead of Usha, clocking 24.07 seconds.

Cinema and other works

She has acted in a few

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

feature films, including her own

biographical film A biographical film or biopic () is a film that dramatizes the life of a non-fictional or historically-based person or people. Such films show the life of a historical person and the central character's real name is used. They differ from docudra ...

titled '' Ashwini'', for which she received the state

Nandi Award The Nandi Awards are the awards that recognise the excellence in Telugu cinema, Telugu theatre and Telugu television, and Lifetime achievements in Indian cinema. Presented annually by the Government of Andhra Pradesh, the award is named after ...

for Best Debut Actress. A noted social worker and educationist, she has also built a school. She is currently the president of the Bangalore Urban District Athletics Association.

Filmography

* '' Ashwini'' (1991) * ''Inspector Ashwini'' (1993) * ''

Aadarsam ''Aadarsam'' () is a 1993 Indian Telugu-language drama film, produced by C. Venkataraju, G. Sivaraju under the Sri Vijaya Lakshmi Productions banner and directed by Mouli. It stars Jagapathi Babu, Ashwini Nachappa, Raghu and music composed by ...

'' (1993) * ''Miss 420'' (1995)Ashwini Nachappa – IMDb
/ref> * ''Andaroo Andare'' (1996)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nachappa, Ashwini 1967 births Living people Recipients of the Arjuna Award Actresses from Bangalore Indian female sprinters 20th-century Indian women Nandi Award winners Asian Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Athletes (track and field) at the 1990 Asian Games Athletes from Bangalore Actresses in Telugu cinema 20th-century Indian actresses Indian film actresses Sportswomen from Karnataka Athletes from Karnataka Asian Games silver medalists for India Medalists at the 1990 Asian Games South Asian Games gold medalists for India South Asian Games silver medalists for India South Asian Games medalists in athletics