Speed skater Anice Das has for a long time been on the fringes of her country’s skating circuit with having had very less or no brush with success. But Das on December 2008 pulled off a surprise victory in the 500m event at the Netherlands’ Olympic Qualifying Tournament which earned her the Winter Games at PyeongChang, South Korea ticket. But the skater besides her gaming quest is also in pursuit of her biological mother. The 32-year-old was born in Mumbai and was just eight months old, when she and her twin sister were adopted by a Dutch couple from Assen.
“My goal was to qualify for the Olympics, so it’s a dream come true. When I crossed the finish line and saw my time, I was very happy because it was my best at this level. After me, however, 10 more girls had to skate; so, I had to wait… When I saw that I had won the competition, I couldn’t believe it. I was very happy that all the years of hard work had finally paid off,” she says.
when often Das is plagued by the question of her orgin, she has not lost her focus from the games which is scheduled for February 9 and February 25. “I’d like to share our personal story together with my twin sister after the Olympics,” Das says. “As far as we know, from what is written in our adoption papers, we were born in a hospital and then taken to the adoption centre three weeks later. I think we must have been born to very poor parents, why else would they give us up for adoption,” she adds.
Das had taken of skating during her school days who by the age of 14 or 15, began competing in the junior national championships. “I started to specialise in sprint distances of 500m and 1000m,” she says. She deems herself lucky to have grown up amongst people from different ethnical backgrounds. ”Although it’s normal, it wasn’t always natural. So I think you can say that we were lucky with that,” she says.
Just days before her crucial championship she says she will stick to her philosophy of hardwork. She exclaims that during race day, t is always hard to stay focused on skating because of the nerves but the emotion has to be kept under control which is difficult.
