How a coach's adoption led to CWG gold for Dilip Gavit
When Dilip Gavit surged ahead in the final 30 metres of the men's 100m T47 at the Commonwealth Games, crossing the line in 10.71 seconds, his childhood coach Vaijnath Kale watched from the stands. The two embraced, their emotions a testament to years of struggle and sacrifice.
Two months before the Games, Gavit was uncertain he would even compete. His primary event, the 400m T47, was not on the programme. At the urging of a Paralympic Committee of India official, he switched to the 100m, a distance he had rarely raced. Wednesday's run on a rain-soaked track in Lane 7 was his first major race over that distance.
“Today is Guru Purnima and there is no better gift than this gold medal. But whatever I do, it won't even get close to what Kale sir has done for me,” Gavit said. Kale, speaking to The Indian Express, added, “When dreams come true, such emotions come out. The medal is a testament that a boy from a non-descript village of Nashik can dream and then achieve that dream.”
Gavit's journey began in Toran Dongri, near Nashik, in a tribal farming family struggling to feed six children. He lost his right arm at around age four or five after falling from a mango tree. His parents first took him to an ayurvedic practitioner instead of a hospital; the wound turned septic before proper treatment arrived. In the family's eyes, the amputation made him one more mouth they could not afford.
Kale spotted the 11-year-old at a school meet. “I saw the talent and then his conditions. I decided to adopt him. His family said that they have nothing to give but I convinced them to send Dilip with me,” Kale recalled. It took more than a month. The family agreed only after Kale promised to cover all the boy's needs.
Gavit moved into Kale's home. “My sir has two children and now I am like the eldest son. Coach sir is everything to me. I trust him blindly,” Gavit said.
Kale, a technical official for the Maharashtra Olympic Association running a small academy, took Gavit in during his own struggles. “I was struggling myself but I thought that I have enough to survive while this guy has nothing. Let me help him,” he said. During and after the pandemic, Kale sold his land to fund Gavit's foreign trips. “Whatever problems came, we navigated it together like a father and son would. I sold my land but I don't have any regrets.”
Asked if he had imagined such success, Kale said, “All I wanted was a good life for this kid because he had the talent and seeing his family conditions broke my heart. But I had never thought that one decision would take us so far.”
Gavit's gold is historic: the first Indian to win a Commonwealth Games gold in a para athletics track event, and only the second Indian ever to win one in para athletics, after Sharmila Dhankar's shot put gold days earlier. It also served as redemption after a disappointing Paralympic final in Paris 2024, where he finished last in the 400m T47.
