Good Sports: FROM TSUNAMI SURVIVOR TO OLYMPIC HOPEFUL
When she was 9, Deborah Herold, a native of India’s Andaman and Nicobar Islands, spent five days in a tree to survive the December 2004 tsunami. Separated from her parents, she ate leaves and bark to alleviate her hunger. Now 22, she’s separated from her parents again, but for a favorable reason: cycling.
Herold left the islands at age 17 to train at New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium and turn herself into an elite cyclist. She recently won three silver medals in track cycling at the 5th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. She hopes to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
As she told PTI in February, the tsunami has left her with more determination to achieve her goals. “I tell myself I have faced the worst of situations in life, and so I can face anything and work hard to the limit.”
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