Hima das is an Indian sprinter, who achieved great success and recognition by rising through extremely tough times. She is an inspiration to all the athletes that come from small villages and have big dreams.
Hima was born on 9th January 2009, at Kandhulmari village near Dhing town in Assam. Her parents are farmers, and they have five children, Hima being the youngest. Mr. Ronjit Das and Jonali Das raised Hima and her siblings equally, and encouraged her to follow her dreams. She completed her education from Dhing public high-school and later from Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya.
Her sports career started as a football player, she used to play football with high school boys and was initially interested in football as her father was also a football player. She played for the local football clubs and earned stipends there, so that she could help her family financially. She lived in a joint family, where they have a very simple life and luxury was a like a dream. Later she learned that she may not have many chances in the Indian women’s football.
Her potential was recognised by her sports coach at her high school, where she was advised to try for athletics. When she first went to an athletic event in Nagaon district, she did not have the spike shoes which is required for sprinting. She ran in normal shoes and broke the Nagaon district record. She had the dream of wearing a jersey for India. Then she went on a sports camp in Guwahati. She somehow managed her accommodation expenses and meals with just ₹350 with her. She practiced for athletics for almost two months there, and got selected in the Indian team for the Junior youth Asian championship which was to be held in Bangkok. She went to Bangkok for the championship and secured sixth position there. Her dream of wearing a jersey for India and representing India was accomplished. But Hima did not stop there. In fact, her successful career started there.
She was the first Indian woman to qualify for the World Youth Championship. Then she participated in the Open National Championship held in Chennai where was the youngest. She was nervous about her performance and fell ill during the tournament. She participated for 400m sprinting which was not her natural event, and she ran for 200m and she fell short of her stamina. But she showed determination and did not stop at 200m and completed the race. She did not win the 400m race. The next day she won a gold medal at 200m sprinting among all the elder olympic level players.
She returned to Guwahati and found Galina Bukharina as her coach who is an olympic silver medalist. She practiced under her for almost six months in Patiala, then in Trivandrum, then in Poland and so on. She got selected in the senior team for Common Wealth Games in Australia for 400m sprinting and for 4x400m relay.
She got selected in Guwahati for Asian Games 2018 which was to be held at Tampere, Finland. She qualified for 200m, 400m sprinting and 200m, 400m mix relay and 200m, 400m relay. Her event was on 11th June, 2018 in Finland where she won the 400m final at the world U-20 Championships and became the first Indian sprinter to win a gold medal at an International track event. The world recognised her and she made India proud. She was welcomed in India with a grand celebration. She was nicknamed as ‘Dhing express’ after her town and her successful lighting speed. She also holds the current Indian National record in 400m sprinting with a timing of 50.79s that she clocked at the 2018 Asian Games held in Jakarta, Indonesia.
She has also been honoured with the Arjuna Award by the President of India on 25th September, 2018.
She enrolled herself as civil servant in the post of Deputy Superintendent of Police of Assam Police service cadre through Assam Public Service Commission on February 21, 2021.
She continues to inspire and encourage young boys and girls to take up various athletic events and to have courage in themselves. If one has talent and is hard-working, success will always pitch after them no matter how small they feel they are.
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