Gayathri Govindaraj

Gayathry Govindharaj (born 27 April 1991) is an Indian athlete who competes in the 100 metres hurdles and Triple jump events. She was supported by Olympic Gold Quest, a not-for-profit foundation that identifies and supports Indian athletes. She works with the Indian Income Tax department. She was roughed up DMK cadres and her vehicle was damaged when raiding the premises of alleged DMK partymen. She was later admitted in a hospital for wounds. She is famously called as "Indian Usain Bolt".

Early life and education
Gayathry comes from a small village in Ariyalur district. She comes from a humble background and before she gained fame, her family found it difficult to make ends meet. Due to her economic background her parents could not afford to provide her a formal training hence was trained at St.Josephs's Sports Academy(Sponsored by St.Joseph's College of Engineering,Chennai) and she says in an interview with The Indian Express, "My parents recollect that I used to run around a lot during my childhood. In school, I used to participate in every athletic event in every tournament."

She completed her schooling from St.Ursula's A.I.Hr.Sec School, Church Park, Chennai in 2008. After securing 91 per cent in her twelfth standard, She went to pursue her Master's Degree in Business Administration from St.Joseph's College of engineering St Joseph's College of Engineering., where, she secured 33rd Rank in Anna University among 8599 qualified candidates. Her mothers dream of pursuing Ph.D Came true, when she was awarded a Ph.D (Business Administration - Commerce) by the University of Madras in 2022, for her Inter-disciplinary thesis on "Effectiveness of Training".

Career and achievements
After participating in various inter college sports events, she gained fame through the 18th Zone Junior inter-State athletic Championship (2006) in Raichur. She won gold in U-16 100M hurdles in this. She also broke Poonam Belliappa's 11-year-old record of 14.40 seconds in the under-18 category in the year 2016. This was followed by her another 14.04 seconds in 2008 and in Mysore she beat her own record by 0.02 seconds.

Her left knee was injured during the triple jump event of the Commonwealth Games 2010 that happened in New Delhi. After being operated on her left leg, she said in an interview with The Hindu that she has been practicing hard to be a part of sports once again.