Anju Bobby George is a legendary Indian long jumper and Olympian, born on 19 April 1977 in Kerala. She made history as the first Indian athlete to win a medal at the World Athletics Championships, securing bronze in the long jump (6.70m) at Paris in 2003. At the 2004 Athens Olympics, she achieved a personal best and national record of 6.83m in the long jump, finishing fifth—India’s best Olympic result in athletics at that time. Anju went on to win gold medals at the 2005 World Athletics Final, the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, and the 2002 Commonwealth Games. She also claimed a silver medal at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne and at the 2007 Asian Championships, along with multiple medals at Asian Championships and South Asian Games throughout her distinguished career. Her achievements have been recognised with numerous honours, including the Arjuna Award (2002), Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna (2003), Padma Shri (2004), and the BBC Lifetime Achievement Award (2021). In 2021, she was named World Athletics Woman of the Year for her outstanding contribution to nurturing talent and advocating gender equality. Anju is the founder of the Anju Bobby George Sports Foundation, established in 2016 to support young female athletes; her academy has already produced a world U20 medallist, Shaili Singh. She currently serves as Chairperson of the Athletics Federation of India (AFI).
