Thonakal Gopi

Thonakal Gopi (born 24 May 1988), also known as Thanackal Gopi, is an Indian athlete who has qualified to represent India at the 2016 Summer Olympics in the marathon event. He is also in the Indian Army. He is the first and so far the only Indian athlete to win a gold medal in the Asian Marathon Championship.

Career At age 21, he joined as a general recruit, starting as a Hawildar at the Army Artillery Center in Hyderabad and completed the 9 month mandatory Army training. 2015 Airtel Delhi Half Marathon New Delhi, India 2nd Indian / 19th Overall Half marathon 1:02:45 2016 Mumbai Marathon Mumbai, India 2nd Indian / 11th Overall Marathon 2:16:15 2016 South Asian Games Guwahati, India 10,000 meters 29:10:53 GR 2016 Summer Olympics Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 1st Indian / 25th Overall Marathon 2:15:25 2017 IAAF World Championships London, UK 1st Indian / 28th Overall Marathon 2:17:13 Personal life Born in Wayanad district of the state of Kerala. The son of Wayanad farmers, Gopi is an only child who helped his parents grow rice and ginger while he grew up on their small area of land. Gopi went to Kakkavayal Govt. Higher Secondary School He began a bachelor's degree in Economics at Mar Athanasius College in Kothamangalam, Kerala, but dropped out in the third year when he passed the Army fitness test and joined the Indian Army at Age 21. His home state of Kerala still produces the maximum number of track athletes in India.

He is the only earning member of his family and sends his savings home, except for a monthly purchase shoes (priced at roughly Rs 10,000 per pair) to accommodate the number of miles that the athlete runs each month. As of mid 2016, he does not have any corporate sponsorship and has to purchase his own shoes. He and his fellow athletes spend 11 out of 12 months of the year away from home and without meeting their families, a sacrifice that they must make in order to compete on the world stage.