Anju Bobby George’s bronze medal at the IAAF World Championships in 2003
When Anju Bobby George won the long jump bronze medal at the 2003 World Athletics Championships in Paris, she made history. She became the first Indian athlete to take home a medal from an athletics world championship. She accomplished her accomplishment with just one kidney, which makes it even more impressive.
‘Believe it or not, I’m one of the fortunate, among very few who achieved the world top with a single KIDNEY, allergic to even a painkiller, with a dead takeoff leg,’ the star athlete wrote in a tweet.
Anju had gradually advanced since winning silver at the SAF Games in Kathmandu in 1999. She qualified for the Olympics in 2000 but was unable to compete owing to injury. However, in 2002, she started a new era in Indian athletics by becoming the first female Indian athlete to win a medal, a bronze one, at the Commonwealth Games. After winning the gold in the Asian Games in Busan, Anju was well on her way to becoming a celebrity.
With a career best leap of 6.83 metres, she placed sixth at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. However, in 2007, Marion Jones of the United States of America was demoted to fifth position due to a doping violation. She also won a gold medal at the IAAF World Athletics Finals (Monaco, 2005).
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