From Haryana Village to Olympic Bronze: Aman Sehrawat’s Journey Is an Inspiration for All Olympians

Aman Sehrawat was extremely nervous on the morning of his Paris Olympics 2024 bronze medal match with haunting thoughts in his mind like, “All eyes back home are on me. There are people watching my bout in my village, the entire country is watching me. What if I lose?”. However, Aman Sehrawat showed immense confidence in his fight for Olympics bronze medals. The thoughts kept swirling in his head till the moment he went for his bout, but he managed to overcome adversity and become the youngest Indian to win the Olympic individual medal.  

Aman’s rise in the wrestling world has been spectacular. Within two years he has risen from the country’s first U23 champion to the Youngest Indian Olympic medallist. His journey is similar to his Chhatrasal teammate and Tokyo Olympics silver medalist Ravi Dahiya. 

Aman’s Olympic journey started after beating Dahiya in the Chhatrasal Stadium where he claimed an Olympic berth. He erased all doubts on his credibility with the win and earned a well-deserved place at the Olympics. In fact, Aman was the only male wrestler from India to participate in the Paris Olympics.

Aman was determined to make history in Paris and the 21-year-old did exactly as claimed India's only medal in wrestling at Olympics 2024.

When he was asked about his journey, Aman very clearly said that he had no facilities in his home when he started training. Aman asserted that he had only one thing in his mind when he started prepping for the Olympics and that was to win a medal for the country. He eventually achieved it.

Talking about his journey, Aman says that If I had not seen those bad days, perhaps he wouldn't have been able to win the Olympic medal. 

At the Paris games, he had to take the long route to success. Aman defeated comfortably against Vladimir Egorovy of Macedonia on technical superiority in his first bout in Paris. Then he met with a tough opponent in Albania’s Zelimkhan Abakarov, a former world champion in the 57kg category. However, Aman comfortably beat Abakarov 12-0 to qualify for the semi-final. He then faced Japan’s Rei Higuchi, who was also a former world champion in the 61kg category. Aman lost the bout 0-10 to Higuchi in the last four stage. 

Aman reflected on the loss in an interview and said, “With the Japanese, I lost four early points and my mind was full of negative thoughts."

He came back fresh for his final bout in Paris but he had to shed 4.5kg to make weight for the match. He did it and won the bronze by defeating Puerto Rico’s Darian Toi Cruz 13-5. 

Bottom Line 

Aman Sehrawat’s journey has given inspiration to many that anything can be achieved if you are optimistic and have a strong mindset. The 21-year-old has faced every adversity life threw at him from losing his parents to fighting doubts with grit and courage. Aman has always managed to overcome hardship to become a record-breaker for India and etch his name in history.