Swapna Barman, With 12 Toes, won Historic Asian Games Gold in Heptathlon

Swapna Barman, who born with six toes on each foot created history as she overcomes painstaking moments to win Gold in the Asian Games 2018 heptathlon yesterday. Just after the event, she requested the authority to provide shoes that actually fit. Barman, who is a symbol of inspiration with 12 toes, said every step of the race had been excruciating as she pushed through the pain barrier in her ill-fitting footwear.

Swapna Barman who hails from Jalpaiguri became the first Indian heptathlete to win the women's all-round event at the Asian Games. In the final event of the heptathlon - the 800m, Swapna had a 50-point lead and after increasing it she had reached 6012 points that kept her 72 points clear of the chasing pack. She became the fifth woman to cross 6000 points in Asian Games.

Barman gave the best performance of her career by logging 6026 aggregate points from the seven events spread for two days. During her performance, she was dealing with also teeth infection which led her to paste a tape on her right cheek. Swapna also conquered a knee injury just before the event.

Reflecting on her glory she said, "I have got this gold on the National Sports day, so it's really special. I use normal shoes worn by people who have normal five toes. It really pains during training. It is very uncomfortable, whether I wear spikes or normal shoes."

Barman had a life of hardship as she comes of from outskirts of Jalpaiguri town in North Bengal. Swapna faced obstacles from the early days of life while her father was a rickshaw puller, her mother worked at a tea estate.

In her early athletic career, Swapna experienced innumerable struggle as she could neither run properly nor afford the proper running shoes because of her sis toe problem. But she moved forward overcoming all hurdles by ignoring the pain and fighting for her dream which she eventually achieved at ASIAD.

She also said about her performance, "The first day I thought I will not be able to do it because there was so much pain. But I had to do it because of all these days of hard work."