2016 Rio Olympic Games in Brazil Aug 05-21,2016 - Nepal's Swimmer Gaurika Singh Set to Become Rio Olympics' Youngest Competitor

 

Nepali swimmer Gaurika Singh(13), already a seasoned international competitor, is poised to become the youngest Olympian in Rio when she hits the water in the 100m backstroke heats on Sunday

 

"That's quite cool, a bit unreal, too," said Singh, who will be 13 years and 255 days old.
It's not surprising the London-based schoolgirl, who swims for English club Barnet Copthall, is undaunted by the prospect. She has already lived through the 2015 earthquake that devastated Nepal, leaving nearly 9,000 dead.

"It was terrifying," she said of the experience she endured with her mother, Garima, and younger brother Sauren while they were back in Nepal for the national swimming championships.

The family, in a fifth-floor apartment of a building in Kathmandu, sheltered under a table before using the stairs to leave the building as the aftershocks rumbled.

"Fortunately, it was a new building so it did not collapse like others around," she said.

At the 2016 South Asian Games in New Delhi in Feb 2016,Gaurika Singh had won

1. 400 Metre Freestyle -Bronze Medal
2. 100 Metre Backstroke - Bronze Medal
3. 200 Metre Backstroke - Bronze Medal
4. 200 Medtres Individual Medley -Silver Medal