Born: 1928, India
Died: Unknown
Country most active: India
Also known as: NA
The following is excerpted from Infinite Women founder Allison Tyra’s book The View from the Hill: Women Who Made Their Mark After 40.
Born in 1928 in Haryana, India, Bhagwani Devi Dagar had few choices in her early years about how her life would go. “At that time, there were no schools or education for girls, so my parents married me off at 12,” the nonagenarian athlete said in 2023. “Since there was no school and no education, I spent a lot of time playing in the fields before marriage. My favourite game to play was Kabaddi with other girls from the village.” Dagar was widowed at 30, when she was four months pregnant and the mother of a little girl who would also die later that year.
“I was devastated, but I had to pick myself up for my little boy. I did not have much family to help me out except for an elder sister. She stood beside me in the tough times. She would take care of my son, and I would toil in the field,” she later said. Her son grew up and was able to take care of himself and his mother, and had sons of his own. It was those young men, Vikas and Vinit, who saw their grandmother’s passion.
“I first noticed her interest in sports when she would tell us about the games she used to play as a kid. She would be mesmerized by the various trophies my brother Vikas, a para-athlete, would bring home,” Vinit said. So Vikas brought home a shot-put ball. “He asked dadi (paternal grandmother) to throw it, but she did not throw it saying that she is tired and wants to sleep. The next morning she went up to him, asked for the ball and threw it. The throw she had was amazing. She did not know any techniques, but still, she could do it just like she was born with the talent,” he said. “This is when we both realized her potential and decided to train her.”
“I did not know what it meant and if I could actually play, but my sporting career began at 94,” Dagar said.
The training, of course, took her age and health into account. “We need to be careful as her heart is weak, and we cannot put a lot of pressure on her … She underwent bypass surgery in 2007, so we did not want to overburden her. But her enthusiasm encouraged us. She told us that she can do it,” Vinit said. “For a person in her age, it is important to focus on her health. The training is not very extensive. She walks two times a day for about 3 km and eats a healthy diet. We teach her techniques of throwing the ball, the various hand positions, and that is it.”
Within a few months, Dagar had won three gold medals at the 2022 Delhi State Masters Athletics Championship, then three more at the 42nd National Masters Athletics Championships the same year. In 2023, she brought home another three from the 9th World Masters Athletics Indoor Championships in Poland in 60-meter sprint, shot put, and discus throw. Despite her wins, she remained humble, saying, “I like to play sports, and that is what I do. I walk a lot to stay fit, do my own work, and not be a bother to anyone. This is the rule I live by that I will follow and keep playing till my last breath.”