Shyamala Goli also referred to as Goli Shyamala is an Indian endurance swimmer, Producer, Creative Director and Writer to the Animation Series and Movies. In March 2021, she became the second Indian woman and second woman in the world after
Bhula Chaudhary to have crossed the
Palk Strait. She completed the feat at the age of 47.
Career
She holds a postgraduate degree in
sociology and initially pursued her career as an animation film producer and director after starting up an animation company in Hyderabad. After running the animation company for over ten years, she decided to quit it due to financial constraints.
Shyamala also runs a play school in
Hyderabad,
Telangana. She pursued her interest in
swimming at the age of 44 and joined a summer camp in 2016. She began her career in swimming in order to overcome from
aquaphobia
Aquaphobia () is an irrational fear of water.
Aquaphobia is considered a specific phobia of natural environment type in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. A specific phobia is an intense fear of something that poses lit ...
. She was trained and guided by senior IPS officer Rajiv Trivedi.
She began her rollercoaster career in swimming by crossing Ganga Open Water in
Patna up to a distance of 13 km in 2019.
In 2019, she swam across
River Krishna in
Vijayawada,
River Ganga in
Patna and
River Hooghly in
Kolkata. She also represented Telangana at the 2020 FINA World Masters Championship which was held in Guwanju,
South Korea.
She also competed at the 2019 National Open Water Ganga River Swimming Championships and also participated at the 2019 open-sea swimming championships which was held at
Porbandar
Porbandar is a city in the States and territories of India, Indian state of Gujarat, perhaps best known for being the birthplace of Mahatma Gandhi and Sudama. It is the administrative center of the Porbandar District and it was the former capi ...
,
Gujarat.
Palk Strait expedition
Shyamala then attempted to swim the 30 mile long
Palk Strait in March 2020. She was all set and well prepared to swim across the Palk Strait but she had to postpone it due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. On 8 March 2020, just a day prior to her scheduled expedition,
Government of Sri Lanka
The Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) ( si, ශ්රී ලංකා රජය, Śrī Lankā Rajaya; ta, இலங்கை அரசாங்கம்) is a parliamentary system determined by the Sri Lankan Constitution. It administers the is ...
implemented nationwide island wide lockdown.
However exactly a year later, Shyamala began her second attempt of swimming across the Palk Strait with the support of Indian High Commissioner and Sri Lanka High Commissioner. On 19 March 2021, Shyamala successfully swam across Palk Strait for 13 hours and 43 minutes starting her journey at 4.15am from
Talaimannar,
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
to
Arichalmunai, India.
She completed the journey at Indian local time 5.30 pm. She revealed that she faced breathing difficulties during the last five hours of the expedition. During the expedition, she was accompanied by a 14-member crew including a doctor and observers from the Swimming Federation of India.
She began her preparation and training to complete the Palk Strait feat in November 2020 after taking break due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. She trained at the Sports Authority of Telangana State Swimming Pool at
Gachibowli for the Palk Strait expedition.
She became only the second woman swimmer as well as thirteenth swimmer in the world to have crossed the Palk Strait and first person from Telangana to have achieved the milestone.
It was reported that she was inspired to swim the Palk Strait after reading about the successful expeditions by swimmers when swimming across the
English Channel.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goli, Shyamala
Living people
Indian female swimmers
Indian educators
People from Telangana
21st-century Indian women
21st-century Indian people
People from Hyderabad, India
Year of birth missing (living people)