Bhubaneswar: "I will start preparations for the next Olympics from now," said Dutee Chand, who returned to Bhubaneswar from Rio on Thursday morning after failing to qualify for the semi finals in the 100-meter heats.
In an exclusive interview to OTV at the Biju Patnaik International Airport here, the sprinter said, “This was my first Olympics. I got an opportunity to experience how to perform in the mega event.”
“Earlier, I had participated in some national and two-three international events. But I was completely new to Olympics. Naturally I was very nervous to perform in front of such a huge crowd,” Dutee added.
“Getting a medal in Olympics is not so easy. You have to do a lot of practice for it. I did not have much time for practice as I qualified for the mega event only in June. I barely got one month for practice. You need at least six months to practice to bag a medal in Olympics,” the star sprinter stated.
She also claimed that the environment at Rio put adverse effect on her performance.
“The weather at Rio also affected my performance. My body could not recover due to the incessant rain there. Besides, I have never run at 11 pm earlier,” she said.