Dilip Gavit’s Inspirational Journey: From Losing His Right Arm at Five After Falling a Tree to Hoisting the Tricolor on Podiums

Indian para-athlete Dilip Mahadu Gavit celebrates winning the gold medal at CWG 2026. (PTI photo) NEW DELHI: At the age of five, Dilip Mahadu Gavit knew little about the fragility of life. A fall from a tree caused a serious injury to his right arm, but there was no reason to believe that a childhood accident would change the course of his life. The wound seemed manageable at first, but turned festering. What followed was every parent’s nightmare. Doctors had no choice but to amputate his hand.For most people, losing an arm at such a young age could have ended dreams before they had even begun. For Gavit, it became the beginning of a battle he would spend years fighting, a battle that would eventually lead him to a place few could have imagined: the Commonwealth Games podium. Earlier this year in Glasgow, the 23-year-old won gold in the men’s 100m T47 final in 10.71 seconds, a Commonwealth Games record, becoming the first Indian para-athlete to win gold at the Games.But for Gavit, the meaning of the medal ran deeper than the timing or the record. He credited his medal to Vaijnath Kale, a coach who spotted Gavit’s potential when he was still a boy competing in local races in Maharashtra.“The first thing that comes to my mind is that the day of my event was Guru Purnima. So in a way I gave my guru his gurudakhina on that day. It makes me feel very good and it’s something I will always remember,” Gavit told TimesofIndia.com on the sidelines of an event organized by (SBI) Life Insurance.Gavit’s CWG final was no textbook 100m victory. His start wasn’t exactly the strongest and by the halfway point he looked like he was chasing the race rather than controlling it. Explosive runners built their advantage while Gavit relied on qualities built up over years of 400m training. As the others began to lose steam, Gavit kept coming. Speed ​​endurance became his strength. In the final 40 meters he powered into a gap, overtook the runner in front of him and crossed the line in 10.71 seconds. The Commonwealth Games record was gone, as was any doubt that a 400m athlete could make a serious impact in the 100m.For Gavit, it also confirmed the decision to continue in the race after the 400m was dropped from the programme. Even after turning in the biggest 100m performance of his career, he knows there is still work to be done.

The guru who shaped Gavit’s career

Gavit grew up in Tora Dongri, a tribal village in Nashik, where sports infrastructure was scarce and opportunities limited. Gavit participated in competitions at school, even when facilities and resources were not readily available, and his willingness to compete eventually brought him to Kale’s attention. Kale, a corporate employee-turned-coach, was impressed with Gavit and asked his parents to let him train, but was denied the go-ahead due to the family’s financial difficulties. Kale was sure he had found a special talent and practically adopted Dilip.What followed was more than a conventional coach-athlete relationship. Kale took Gavit into his home and provided him with the environment he needed to pursue athletics. For a village boy with little access to sports, it changed the trajectory of his life. Gavit never forgot that.“I come from a small village where there aren’t many facilities, especially when it comes to sports. Not many people would do it to take me out of there and keep me at his house. He did it for me. He was like God to me,” he recalled.

Transition from 400 m to 100 m in Glasgow

Kale began shaping him primarily as a 400-meter runner, an event that requires much more than raw speed. A successful one-lap athlete must understand pace, conserve energy in the middle stages and still have enough left to attack in the final 100 meters.Gavit’s progress soon transcended para-athletics. Gavit competed in open competitions, regularly holding his own against able-bodied athletes. In 2021, he reached the Under-20 400m final at the Open Nationals and was part of Maharashtra’s 4x400m bronze medal relay team at the 2022 Khelo India Youth Games.His move to international para-athletics took him to the 2022 Asian Para Games in Hangzhou, where he won the 400m gold, establishing himself as one of India’s leading para-sprinters. Glasgow would require something different and interestingly, he did not arrive at the 2026 Commonwealth Games as a 100m specialist. If one event defined youth, it was the 400m.On the wet track in Glasgow, however, the greatest moment of his career came with the shortest sprint. He was not among the leaders for most of the race. The fast explosiveness of the sprinters saw him off early, but things changed in the closing stages. Drawing on the speed endurance he developed as a 400m runner, Gavit cruised through the final stretch and swept past his rivals.The absence of the 400m on the Commonwealth Games program left Gavit with a choice. Rather than miss the Games altogether, he turned to the 100m, an event he had already run in preparation for the longer sprint. The shift was not as sudden as it might seem from the outside. Kale had been training him for years to run the 100 meters.“The preparation for the 100m didn’t start this year. In fact, it has been going on for the last four years,” Kale told the website. “As you saw, he competed in the 100m at the 2023 Asian Para Games in Hangzhou. He reached the quarter-finals and semi-finals, but unfortunately he fouled in the final and was disqualified.That foul was left to Gavit. He had already won a medal in the 400 meters at the Asian Games, but the disappointment in the 100 meters bothered him. “My coach actually started preparing me for the 100m much earlier, in 2022. At the Asian Games, I fouled in the 100m, so I couldn’t finish the event. I won the 400m medal there, but I still felt bad in the 100m because of the foul,” he said.That made Glasgow personal. “So when I won the Commonwealth Games gold in the 100m, I felt really good,” he added.The transition also had a practical reason. “We trained for both events in parallel. As the 400m was not part of the Commonwealth Games programme, we focused on qualifying and competing in the 100m,” explained Kale.

India’s Dilip Mahadu Gavit, right, gold medalist and Mohammed Basil Morssinganakath (PTI photo)

“I still run the 400 meters”

The irony of Gavit’s CWG triumph is that despite winning one of the most prestigious sprint titles in Indian para-athletics, Kale does not see him as a 100m specialist. “He’s still primarily a 400m athlete. But his 100m performance was also very good,” Kale said.The 100m and 400m are both sprint events, but the demands are fundamentally different: one is a battle for explosive acceleration and maximum speed, while the other is about combining speed with the ability to sustain it for the entire lap.“The 100m is a sprint and requires speed, while the 400m is a speed-endurance event. Balancing the two is quite difficult, but luckily we managed both very well and the results were also very good.”Gavit sees the difference clearly himself. “In the 400m, the concentration is much greater because you have to plan the whole race. You have to know how to run the first 100m, how to keep the pace in the middle of the race and then give everything you have in the final stretch,” he said.“In the 100m you just have to run full speed and the race is over quickly. I actually enjoy the 100m because it ends so quickly.”There’s something funny about it: an athlete who just conquered the Commonwealth 100m is still happiest thinking he’s a 400m runner, while his coach tries to ensure that both versions of Gavit are constantly evolving.

The laurels he wants to keep

Gavit believes Glasgow’s conditions are costing him. “The climate wasn’t very good there and because of that my start was a bit slow. That’s something I want to improve.”A Commonwealth gold and a Games record would be enough for most athletes to sit back and enjoy. Gavit is already looking at the next benchmark. “I want to break the Commonwealth Games record again in 2030.”Until then comes a more immediate challenge. The Asian Para Games in Aichi-Nagoya will require Gavit to switch quickly from the 100m preparation back to the 400m, and after two months of intense focus on the shorter sprint, Kale knows the transition won’t be easy.“It’s definitely a bit difficult at the moment because for the last two months we’ve been all focused on the 100m. Now all of a sudden we have to move back to the 400m. So there are some challenges.” But the goal is clear. “There is no doubt that we will give our best and our commitment will be to win medals for India in both the events.”Gavit wants more than medals. He wants gold in both. “At the next Asian Games, I want to compete in both the 100 and 400 and win gold in both.”