Shivani Kataria (born 27 September 1997) is an Indian swimmer. She competes in the women's 200m freestyle.[1] She represented India at 2016 Summer Olympics . She has also won many medals at South Asian Games and Asian Age Group Championship .[1]

Shivani Kataria
Personal information
National team India
Born (1997-09-27) September 27, 1997 (age 28)
Gurugram, Haryana, India
Sport
SportSwimming
StrokesFreestyle
Medal record
Representing  India
South Asian Games
Gold medal – first place2016 Guwahati200m freestyle
Gold medal – first place2016 Guwahati4x100m freestyle relay
Gold medal – first place2016 Guwahati4x200m freestyle relay
Gold medal – first place2016 Guwahati4x100m medley relay
Silver medal – second place2016 Guwahati400m freestyle
Bronze medal – third place2016 Guwahati100m freestyle

Early life

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Shivani was born in Haryana, and raised in Gurugram where she attended DAV Public School.[2] She started swimming at 6 at a summer camp at Baba Gang Nath Swimming Centre near her house. Her parents were supportive.[3][4] She started competing in district level events under her first coach Mr. Yadav and won the bronze medal at CBSE nationals in Gujarat.[2] In 2012, she decided to become a professional swimmer and started swimming two hours in the morning and two in the evening along with an hour of core exercises during the day.[2] She earned her Bachelor’s degree in History from Hansraj College, Delhi.[5][6]

Career

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Shivani finished sixth in the 200m freestyle at the 2013 Asian Youth Championships and won a gold medal at the 2016 South Asian Games.[1] In 2015, she trained for a year at the FINA camp at Thyanpura in Phuket, Thailand,[3][7] where she swam three times a day. She clocked 2:04:00 in that camp and was closest to a time slot level, called the B Cut.[2]

2016 Summer Olympics

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Shivani was selected as India's wildcard entry for the Rio Olympics by the Swimming Federation of India (SFI),[1] making her the first Indian women to swim in the Summer Olympics since 2004 in Athens.[3] She competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in the women's 200 metre freestyle event; her time of 2:09.30 in the heats did not qualify her for the semifinals. She holds most of India's national records. Shivani sees the 2016 Olympics qualification more as a learning curve which will strengthen her chances in the 2020 Olympic.[4]

References

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  1. 1 2 3 4 "Road to Rio: Shivani Kataria, first Indian woman swimmer at the Olympics after 2004". Firstpost. 29 July 2016. Retrieved 13 May 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Interview with Indian swimmer Shivani Kataria: "Reaching semi-finals in 2016 Rio Olympics would be historic"". 26 July 2016. Retrieved 13 May 2017.
  3. 1 2 3 "The Story Of Shivani Kataria - India's First Female Olympic Swimmer In 12 Years". indiatimes.com. Retrieved 13 May 2017.
  4. 1 2 "Shivani Kataria: India's first woman swimmer at Olympics in12 years". SheThePeople TV. Retrieved 13 May 2017.
  5. "Platinum sheen of Hansraj: Alumni go nostalgic sharing fond memories". Hindustan Times. 27 July 2022. Archived from the original on 28 October 2022. Retrieved 25 February 2025.
  6. "Swimmer eyes Commonwealth, Asian Games, wants better facilities in city". The Times of India. 19 October 2017. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 25 February 2025.
  7. "No unrealistic aims: Shivani Kataria". Deccan Chronicle. 16 July 2016. Retrieved 13 May 2017.
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