Daadi Cool: Bhagwani Devi Is Going For The Gold In Her 90s

At 94, Bhagwani Devi Dagar won gold in the World Masters Athletics Championships, proving that sometimes, age is really a trivial number.

One morning in December 2021, Bhagwani Devi Dagar, 94, walked up to her grandson Vikas Dagar with a shotput in hand. Dagar, an international para-athlete and Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna awardee, had asked her to try her hand at it the previous evening. "What exactly is this?" Bhagwani Devi, whom Dagar calls 'daadi', asked him. "I want to try this now."

Grandson and grandmother walked to the fields for what they both thought would be a fun trial. "But watching her throw convinced me that I should encourage her to give sports a try," Dagar, an Asian record-setter in shotput at the 2014 Grand Prix in Tunisia, recalls. Daadi may have been in her mid-90s, considered too late for a start by some, but Dagar was enthusiastic, and Bhagwani Devi was game. It led to a winning streak that hasn't stopped yet.

Bhagwani Devi Dagar won one gold and two bronze medals for India at the World Masters Athletics Championships held in Finland in June this year. She also clocked a timing of 24.74 seconds, a World Meet Record in the 90-94 age category. "The world record in that category is 23.15. We missed it by a small margin and will try next time," Dagar says, his voice full of hope. Is he pushing his daadi too far? No, he says, it's what she wants.

Bhagwani Devi lives in Najafgarh village, close to Gurgaon, Haryana. Her family is quite tight. Sports have been an essential part of their lives at home, especially after Dagar started winning medals. "She would look through all my medals, touching them and asking me about the game. Over the years, as I watched her, I felt there had been a desire in her somewhere to play sports, though she never got the chance." 

When Bhagwani Devi finally agreed to participate in sporting events, the entire family, from her son Hawa Singh to her granddaughter-in-law Sarika and great-grandsons, supported it unanimously. "Not one of us felt it could be risky for her at this age. She was healthy. We thought if this is what she wants to do, we will support it," Dagar says over the phone from home, the sounds of an elated family behind him.

Age is nothing more than an increasing set of numbers for Bhagwani Devi, a true cool grandmother. She broke into an impromptu jig after landing in India with the medal, her joy unfiltered and unabashed. Her story is one of intergenerational support, of a family coming together to fulfil the wishes of an ageing member who has been their rock because they see capability and passion in her. They are careful not to overexert. The senior athletic star's training schedule is simple and basic, says Dagar. "Daadi walks 4-5 kilometres every morning and every evening. We do some basic warmups with her three days a week but carefully, to avoid any injury. She has always followed a healthy diet too." 

"I don't eat any Western food," Bhagwani Devi has told reporters, "roti sabji is what I like."

Bhagwani Devi had played Kabaddi as a young girl, though circumstances didn't give her a chance to pursue it. She was widowed early and left with an infant son and a daughter, who passed a few years later. "It has been a life of grief and struggle for her to bring up my father alone," Dagar says. In recent years, as her family seemed settled enough, Bhagwani Devi started talking of the dreams she had given up during her years of struggle. Creating records and winning gold medals in her 90s may have been far from that dream, but she embraced it with open arms when the chance came. 

Bhagwani Devi's journey since January 2022 has been like an unbeaten race. She won three gold medals at the Delhi State Athletics Championships. Three more gold medals in April at the 42nd National Masters Athletics Championships in Chennai followed, securing her participation in the World Masters Athletics Championships (WMAC). Organised for athletes above 35, the WMAC has age categories going up to 100. Bhagwani plans to compete for the next five years in the 95-99 age category. 

"I'm thrilled to have won a gold medal for my country in a foreign land," Bhagwani Devi told reporters after landing in India to the welcoming beat of dholaks and a rousing welcome from her family. 

"She hasn't completely absorbed the magnitude of her achievement or that her images are now viral," says Dagar, laughing at how "daadi" was bemused by the airline crew fussing over her on the flight back home. "But she is happy to have won her own medals and made her country proud. I'm reliving my dream of creating international records through her," says the proud grandson. His encouragement and commitment to fulfilling a grandparent's dream have now put her on the world map.

Images courtesy: Vikas Dagar's Facebook Page & Twitter