Medical doctor. TED Fellow. Former Asian Sailing Champion. India's first Medical Clown. One accomplished person.
Dr Rohini Rau is India’s former top woman sailor. Her best World ISAF Ranking was 94 and 5th in Asia. She created history by winning India's first international gold medal by a women's youth team at the Asian Sailing Championship in 2004. She has participated in 8 World Championships, winning 6 international medals and 32 National Medals including 8 Consecutive National titles in the Laser Radial. She campaigned for the 2012 Olympic Games.
And she's done so much more including making a comeback into competitive sailing in 2019. She shows us that you can really have it all if you balance and prioritise – she truly is a poster child for accomplishment in various fields. Read her full profile here and be inspired.
Interview with Dr. Rohini Rau
What did you have to give up to play sports?
I had to give up a lot of normal things like going out to meet friends and hangout on weekends. Since my days were so busy, I used to look forward to relaxing at home.
But it’s because I refused to give up on certain things, I tried to balance everything out by making sure my time management was in place.
I truly believe that some of the busiest people are the ones who will find time to do everything. But you also have to want to do it.
What is the most important lesson you have taken from being a player
That everything happens for a reason and it’s usually for the best.
No matter what happens, there will always be certain things that happen that are not in your control or that is unfair.
If you learn to look at the positive side of things it will really board well for the future.
After all when you look back you will realise that it was because of the things that didn’t happen that got you to where you are now.
Why do you think everyone should play a sport?
It definitely makes you an all round human being! Having said that, just sport isn’t enough either. It is important at a young age to engage in the arts as well like music or dance.
It is because of the foundation that I had when I was younger that I learnt in depth about arts, sports and academics. I feel this is what really makes you an all round person, capable of accepting challenges and coping with failure and disappointment.
One of the most important aspects of sport is physical fitness, that I feel is lacking in this day and age. But we can use sport as the sole source of fitness, as you need to be fit to play a sport.
And sport at a competitive level can often lead to overuse injury as it only works certain muscles and joints.
So it works as a great motivation for some people to stay mentally and physically fit to excel in a sport.