Dhinidhi Desinghu wasn’t born to swim, but her mind has decided she is going to win big at it. So, a pair of Youth Olympics bronzes have followed at Dakar, Senegal—a first for India at the global stage. Not too shabby for someone who doesn’t dig sport much, and admits she is so un-coordinated on land that people might question if she’s an ‘athlete’ at all. So she wouldn’t go near a field, and instead, study, or play chess or something. In the water, she now feels just fine. Maybe, Dhinidhi was born to swim.

It’s fairly well known that the Bangalorean grew up scared of water. Both her parents had to get into the pool to persuade her to even go under water – and 30-40 noisy splashers in the pool agitated her sense of independence. But she was hyper-competitive –which is the Swimmer’s DNA helix. Competitive in the smallest of things; with a need for speed.

“Even in first grade, small exams, I would finish quickly and submit the paper.…