Tokyo Olympics: Sreeshankar Murali, an academic genius first and an Olympian next

India's long jump athlete Sreeshankar Murali would be making his Olympic debut at the Tokyo Olympics and he would be looking to do better than his fellow athletes on Day 1 of athletics and try to reach the finals. The athlete who started his journey in athletics from the age of five took up sprinting initially and eventually switched to long jump at the age of thirteen.

Sreeshankar Murali qualified for the Tokyo Olympics in March when he breached the Olympic qualification mark by jumping 8.26m and in the process, he also set a new national record. However, apart from being a national record holder, Sreeshankar Murali is also a genius in academics.

From Academics to Sports

Sreeshankar Murali always had a focussed approach right from an early age and this was applicable to his academics as well. According to one of his friends, Sreeshankar used to be that kid in the class who would often spend hours behind a particular math problem and eventually crack it as well when others would simply give up. His close circle often used to admire the kind of determination he possessed from his early days and consider him to be someone who does not get easily distracted.

The 22-year-old scored 96 per cent in his 12th standard exams and also cleared both medical and engineering entrance exams. However, despite clearing both the entrance exams, Sreeshankar's major focus was always on sports from a young age as he was the state-level under-10 champion in 50m and 100m. before switching to long jump.

In order to continue his sporting journey, he decided to pursue his graduation in B.Sc (Mathematics) and the decision was driven by the fact that the course would allow him to put in more time on the training ground.

All of India would be hoping that Sreeshankar Murali remains as focussed as he can when he competes in the men's long jump event at the Tokyo Olympics.