Shailesh Kumar: From Jumping Over Ropes In Village To Setting Meet Record At Worlds

Shailesh Kumar’s story doesn’t begin under floodlights or on manicured tracks. It begins in a farm field in Jamui, Bihar - tying ropes, jumping over them, falling into the hard earth because there was no mattress. That boy from Islamnagar, who once dreamt in the dust, stood at the centre of New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on 27 September and rewrote the competition record at the World Para Athletics Championships.

For India, it was a moment of pride. For Shailesh, it was redemption. A year after heartbreak in Paris, where he missed out by the slimmest of margins, he came back hungrier. Delhi gave him what Paris did not: the top of the podium. India even repeated their double-medal finish in this event, Varun Singh Bhati taking bronze, but this time, Shailesh stood tallest.

And yet, as the stadium applauded, he felt something was missing.

“The social equality and mentality that Olympics and Paralympic athletes should be treated the same,” he said. “Just like there is Olympics, there is Paralympics too. Please come here and support para sports. We all deserve the same. The government has supported us well, but wider recognition from society will make a big difference.”

Government schemes like TOPS and Khelo India, Shailesh feels, have given para athletes solid backing. But corporate sponsorship often comes much later, sometimes only once an athlete has already reached the Paralympics.

“I know able-bodied athletes must have their own challenges,” he admitted, “but for para athletes the support tends to come only after a big breakthrough. That’s something I hope we can change, because every athlete works hard in their own way.”

Shailesh Kumar’s Mantra - ‘Never Give Up’

Even after his gold, Shailesh wasn’t done. He kept his eyes on the bar set at 1.94m, chasing more. Three times he ran in, three times the bar rattled down. The medal was his, the record was his, but the hunger was still there.

“It is just the beginning,” he smiled, brushing off the miss.

When asked what keeps his hunger alive, he smiled.

“Why the hunger? I think it’s because I come from a village in Bihar that didn’t even have sports. Para sports was a far, far dream.”

Islamnagar offered little for a child with a disability who wanted to jump. Shailesh lived with a physical disability in his right leg, a result of polio in his childhood.

“I come from a place where there were barely any sports facilities,” Shailesh said. “I used to compete and even win in able-bodied events before a friend suggested I try Paralympic disciplines. Meeting a few Paralympians and learning about the classification system showed me a path I hadn’t known existed, and that’s when I knew I had to pursue it.”

What followed was improvisation, grit, and endless trial and error.

“I started with jumping over ropes in farm fields,” he recalled. “Then I realized I lacked a mattress, so I added that. I brought everything from here and there, whatever I could find. That’s what carried me here, to a gold medal, with the national flag on my shoulders.”

The lesson, he said, was simple but hard, “never give up.”

“There will be days you’ll feel you lack everything you need for the sport. It took me so much time to understand what all was needed. But I kept going.”

He laughed while remembering where it all began: in Class 5, when a teacher casually asked if he wanted to participate in sports.

“Maybe he thought I would say no,” Shailesh said. “But I said yes. And since then, I have been saying yes to everything that brings me closer to the goal.”

Through all of this, his family stood as his safety net. His elder brother, in particular, made sure the boy who dreamed of flying never fell too hard.

“My brother never let anything reach me,” Shailesh said quietly. “He protected me from every hardship he could. Whatever I am today, it’s because he never let me give up.”

From farm fields to a meet record, from heartbreak to redemption, Shailesh Kumar’s gold is more than a medal. It is a reminder that para athletes are not asking for sympathy; they are demanding equality.

And as he stood there in Delhi, eyes still fixed on a bar he hopes to clear, chasing even higher records one day, it was clear his journey was only just beginning.