Dakar, Nov. 3 -- There was a time when Dhinidhi Desinghu was so afraid of water that she ran home from the swimming pool in her swimsuit rather than get into the water.
On Monday, the same girl stood on the podium at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games, having won a bronze medal in the women's 100m freestyle.
The 16-year-old Indian swimmer clocked a personal best of 56.27 seconds in the final, finishing behind Croatia's Ana Bobanovic (55.89) and New Zealand's Alyssa Lawson (56.13).
It was a remarkable achievement for the Bengaluru teenager, who had become the first Indian female swimmer to qualify for a final at the Youth Olympics earlier in the day.
But perhaps the most remarkable part of Dhinidhi's story is that swimming was once somet...