Nilima Ghose: The teenager who helped ndian women get off the blocks in Olympics

Nilima Ghose was only 17 when she became the first Indian woman to compete at an Olympic
Games. She participated in the 100m sprint and 80m hurdles at Helsinki 1952.

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1952-nilima-ghose-athletics

The 1952 Olympic Games at Helsinki was a landmark event in Indian sporting
history.
Wrestler KD Jadhav bagged a bronze and became the first individual to win
an Olympic medal for India. That and the Indian hockey team’s fifth straight
Olympic gold headlined India’s performance in Finland, but there was another
noteworthy subtext at the Games.
For the first time, Indian women found representation at the quadrennial event
as 60 men were accompanied by four women in Helsinki.
Out of the four women, young track and field athlete Nilima Ghose scripted
history by becoming the first Indian woman to participate in the Olympics.

Nilima Ghose’s run at

the Olympics
Born on June 15, 1935, Nilima Ghose was not even 17 years old when she
was named in the Indian contingent for the 1952 Summer Olympics. There
she was slated to take part in two events - the 100 metres sprint and 80
metres hurdles.
On July 21, 1952, only 17, Nilima Ghose officially became the first Indian
woman to participate in the Olympics when she ran the first heat race of
the women’s 100 metres. Although her run of 13.8 seconds could not take her
through to the next round, the Indian female track athlete had nevertheless
etched her name in history.
Two days later, Nilima Ghose took part in the women’s 80 metres hurdles as
the youngest athlete of the event, finishing fifth in her heat with a time of 13.07
seconds.
Accompanying Ghose at the Games was another sprinter Mary D’Souza
Sequeira, who competed in the womens’ 100 metres and 200 metres events.
The 20-year-old D’Souza was also unsuccessful in qualifying for the next
round but would go on to become one of the fastest runners of Asia in the
next few years.

Mary Leela RAO

1956 melborne
80 m hurdle
100 m
https://olympics.com/en/olympic-games/melbourne-1956/results/athletics/80m-hurdles-
women