I dont stop till I finish!

Remarks Rupali Repale with quiet determination on how her rigorous training
schedule has affected her life. Meet the Worlds youngest and fastest long distance
swimmer.
What she is
Its hard to imagine the small shy girl seated cross-legged on the sofa as a champion
swimmer. Her whole room seems to reflect the vacation siesta shes just had. Rupalis bio
is formidable. She is the second youngest girl in the world to swim the English Channel
and is the youngest and fastest swimmer in the world to cross the Strait of Gibralter in
five hours flat. She is the fastest woman swimmer to cross the Palk Strait in 11 hours and
5 minutes.
She is listed in the Guinness Book of World records as the youngest person to
successfully swim six of the worlds seven Straits or Channels. She is the first person in
India to cross all the seven Channels or Straits of the world.
Making a splash!
Such irony. She was an unwilling and indifferent beginner at the Mulund swimming pool.
This was one seven-year-old who didnt want to swim. She went to the pool rather
indifferently for the next couple of years. But her father obviously glimpsed a spark of
genius through her veil of indifference and arranged for a coach to hone her skills.
It worked! She was ready for competitive swimming by the time she was 10. At 11 she
started her illustrious long distance swimming career by eating up the distance between
Alibaug and Gateway of India. Rupali does more than swimming. She is a triathlete. The
triathlon is a grueling race involving three disciplines, swimming, cycling and running.
Along the way
This level of achievement doesnt come easy. Rupali has had to make a lot of sacrifices to
get where she is. For one, she puts in six to seven hours of practice daily. That leaves her
little time for socialising. She tries to keep in touch with her closest friends over the
phone whenever she can. In fact thats what she does every time she feels down and out.
However, she feels worst about the fact that her swimming schedules cut into her
academics. Im a bit of a scholar, I liked to sit with my books. With all my swimming I
didnt get much time to study. I was away a lot during school, so by the time I got back,
exams were just around the corner and I was always unprepared. I became an average
student in school. She sighs. She still finds pleasure in reading though. Her interests
range from Marathi authors like Khandekar and Jaywant Dalvi to Sidney Sheldon and
those timeless girlhood staples, Mills and Boon romances.
Inspirations
Her role models keep changing she says. So it varies from Anita Sood to Mihir Sen.
Being a triathlete, she admires PT Usha too. She is also extremely impressed with her

current competitors. I particularly like this swimmer from Manipal called Rameshwari.
Her performance is consistent, she has a powerful physique and is tremendously strong.
All this even though each one of us practice equally hard.
Ive realised that the only cause of defeat is inadequate preparation. Non-performance is
the result of bad training. Its that simple. My constant competition level training all these
years has reflected somewhat on other areas of my life as well. I am dedicated to what I
take up. I dont stop till I finish a task. she reiterates.
Life ahead
But, shes happy at the way things have turned out for her. At 18, shes still got a lot of
competition left in her. She wants to become a swimming instructor afterwards. Asked
about her preferences for a life partner? Hell have to be a sportsman. Only sportspeople
can understand what it takes and what makes you tick. She remarks. But cricketers are
out. Rupali doesnt like cricket. She thinks its too hyped up.
Shes going to try her hand at short distance swimming soon. Sort of a new challenge.
Her training will start sometime later though. Its off-season for swimmers, no major
competitions or swim meets coming up in the next three months and shes looking
forward to a long sojourn at home. Lots of sleep and TV and a lot of books to read.