Swapna Barman (born 29 October 1996) is an Indian heptathlete. She won the gold medal at

2018 Asian Games The 2018 Asian Games ( id, Pesta Olahraga Asia 2018 or ''Asian Games 2018''), officially known as the 18th Asian Games and also known as Jakarta-Palembang 2018 or Indonesia 2018, was a Asia, continental multi-sport event that was held from 18 A ...

and placed first in the

Heptathlon A heptathlon is a track and field combined events contest made up of seven events. The name derives from the Greek επτά (hepta, meaning "seven") and ἄθλος (áthlos, or ἄθλον, áthlon, meaning "competition"). A competitor in a hept ...

at the

2017 Asian Athletics Championships The 2017 Asian Athletics Championships was the 22nd edition of the Asian Athletics Championships. It was held from 6 to 9 July 2017 at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, India. Bhubaneswar was the third Indian city to host Asian Championships. ...

. In August 2019, she was honoured with 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 ...

. In 2022 she took gold medals in the high jump and the heptathlon at the National games.

Life

Barman was born in Ghospara village near

Jalpaiguri Jalpaiguri is a city in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the headquarters of the Jalpaiguri district as well as of the Jalpaiguri division of West Bengal, covering the jurisdiction of the five districts of North Bengal. The city is loca ...

, West Bengal in 1996 in a poor Rajbongshi family. She is unusual in having six toes on each foot. Her mother Basana worked on a tea estate and her father, Panchanan Barman, was a rickshaw driver. and is bed-ridden after having suffered a stroke in 2013, making life tricky for his four children. She found it difficult to find the right food and her unusual feet caused her pain because she could not afford extra wide running shoes. Swapna uses her prize money to look after her family who live in a house without a concrete wall. In 2016 she won a scholarship of 1,50,000 rupees in recognition of the success she had at athletics. She trains at the Sports Authority of India campus at Kolkata. In 2016, she was supported by the

GoSports Foundation The GoSports Foundation (GSF) is an independent, donor-funded non-profit venture, working towards securing funds and professional expertise for some of India's junior Olympic and Paralympic athletes. Established in 2008, it has worked with nume ...

through the Rahul Dravid Athlete Mentorship Programme. Barman won the gold at

, she accomplished this despite a jaw injury. Barman collapsed during the final event of the 2017 Asian Athletics Championships – Women's heptathlon which was the 800 metres where she was fourth. However Barman had broken many of her personal records and she had gained enough points from the previous six events to take gold. In 2020 she lost out on funding but said that she would continue to train at her home in

, West Bengal. She took gold in the heptathlon at the 2021 Federation Cup Senior Athletics Championships and in 2022 she competed at the National Games in the heptathlon. She gained an unexpected gold when she broke the high jump games record with a height of 1.83m. She was also in first place in the javelin and the 100m hurdles. She won the gold for the heptathlon and hinted that she would have scored even higher of she had a sponsor for support staff.

Achievements

Asian Athletics Championships The Asian Athletics Championships is an event organized by the Asian Athletics Association. History The competition courted controversy with the IAAF when political in-fighting arose after Israel was excluded from participation in 1977. That e ...

Federation cup Asian Games Rewards for winning the gold medal at the 2018 Asian Games * from the

Government of West Bengal The Government of West Bengal also known as the West Bengal Government, is the subnational government of the Indian state of West Bengal , created by the National Constitution as the state's legislative, executive and judicial authority. The ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barman, Swapna 1996 births Living people Sportswomen from West Bengal People from Jalpaiguri Indian heptathletes Athletes (track and field) at the 2014 Asian Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2018 Asian Games Medalists at the 2018 Asian Games Asian Games gold medalists for India Asian Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Rajbongshi people Recipients of the Arjuna Award Asian Games gold medalists in athletics (track and field) People with polydactyly