Bhakti Sharma

Bhakti Sharma
Sharma (centre), and her family, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Born	30 November 1989 Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Nationality	Indian
Occupation	Open water swimmer
Years active	2003–present
Home town	Udaipur, Rajasthan, India
Awards	Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award, 2010
Website	bhaktisharma.in

Bhakti Sharma (born 30 November 1989) is an Indian Open water swimmer.

Sharma is the first Asian woman and the youngest in the world to set a record in open swimming in Antarctic waters. Sharma swam 1.4 miles (2.3 km) in 41.14 minutes, at a temperature of 1 °C (34 °F), breaking the record of Lynne Cox (USA) and Lewis Pugh (Great Britain).^[1] Bhakti Sharma has swum in all the five oceans of the world, besides swimming in or across eight other seas and channels. She was awarded the Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award in 2010.^[2]

Early life

Sharma was born in Mumbai and brought up in Udaipur, Rajasthan. She holds a master's degree from Symbiosis International University in Communications Management, and holds a bachelor's degree in Commerce from Mohan Lal Sukhadia University, Udaipur, Rajasthan.

Swimming career

Sharma started swimming at a young age of 2 and a half years, coached by her mother Leena Sharma. After having participated in many State and District Level competitions, her first open water (Sea) swim was a 16 km swim from Uran port to Gateway of India in 2003. Sharma was 14 years old that time.^[3]

Along with her Mother-Coach Leena Sharma and friend Priyanka Gehlot, Bhakti holds the Asian record for the first swim by a 3-member women’s relay team across the English Channel. She also shares a world record with her mother for being the first mother-daughter pair to swim across the English Channel, a feat that they achieved in 2008.

Sharma is only the third person in the world to have swum in the Arctic Ocean, and recently swam in the Antarctic Ocean to become the youngest to swim in all five oceans, a feat which earned her recognition from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.^[4][5]

Sharma's swimming career in just a little over 10 years is commendable and some major milestones include :

• 2006: Crossed the English Channel in 13 hours 55 minutes on 6 July at the age of 16 from Shakespeare Beach, Dover England to Calais, France ^[5]
• 2006: Winning the Lake Zurich Swim ^[5][6]
• 2007: Swam 25 km in Gulf of Mexico as a part of 2007 U.S.A Swimming Open Water Championships in Fort Myers Beach, Florida.^[7]
• 2007: Completed the Swim around the Rock (Alcatraz), a race of 6.5 km in the Pacific Ocean.^[8]
• 2007: Won a Gold Medal in Marathon swim around the Key West Island, Atlantic Ocean that made here the first Asian swimmer to participate in three major American swimming events.^[9]
• 2007: Crossed the Strait Of Gibraltar in the Mediterranean Sea at Tarifa, Spain, considered as one of the most challenging sea courses, in 5 hours and 13 minutes.^[10]
• 2010: Successfully swam a distance of 1.8 km in 33 minutes in the Arctic Ocean, and in the process became the second and youngest swimmer in the World to swim in 4 oceans.^[11]

National Swims

• 2004: Successfully swam a distance of 36 km from Dharamtal to Gateway of India, Indian Ocean in 9 hours and 30 minutes.^[12]
• 2008: Created an Indian record along with her mother Leena Sharma and friend Priyanka Gehlot by covering a distance of 72 km in 16 Hours, 58 minutes from Dharamtal to Gateway of India, Mumbai, and back.^[13]

Recent record

On January 10, 2015, Sharma became the youngest in the world and first Asian girl to swim in freezing water of Antarctica for 2.25 km,^[14] beating the record of British open water swimming champion Lewis Pugh and American swimmer Lynne Cox. Sharma swam for 52 minutes, covering 2.25 km distance in the freezing waters of Antarctica while the temperature was one degree.^[14] She performed the record-breaking swim with the sponsorship of Hindustan Zinc Limited.^[15]

Motivational Speaking

Sharma is also a renowned Motivational Speaker, who has been invited to speak about her experiences at various national and international speaker platforms. Some of the well-documented speaker opportunities include

• Bhakti Sharma at IIT Kanpur - "Lessons learnt from the seven seas" "Bhakti Sharma at IIT Kanpur" on YouTube
• Fighting against odds: Bhakti Sharma at TEDxNMIMS "Bhakti Sharma at TEDxNMIMS" on YouTube
• From desert to Antarctica - a swimmer's journey and lessons learnt | Bhakti Sharma | TEDxIIMUdaipur "Bhakti Sharma at TEDxIIMUdaipur" on YouTube
• TEDxSIBMBangalore - Ms. Bhakti Sharma "Pride of India" - Challenging The Conventional "Bhakti Sharma at TEDxSIBMBangalore" on YouTube
• Bhakti Sharma delivers a talk at Vodafone Zonathon "Bhakti Sharma at Vodafone Zonathon" on YouTube
• Bhakti Sharma at Shakti Sundays, Udaipur "Bhakti Sharma at Shakti Sundays, Udaipur" on YouTube

References

1. Press Trust of India (14 January 2015). "Open water swimmer Bhakti Sharma sets world record in Antarctic Ocean". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 15 January 2015.
2. "Bhakti Sharma conquers Antarctic Ocean". Times of India. Retrieved 15 January 2015.
3. "Interview in Udaipur Times". Retrieved 15 January 2015.
4. "Prime Minister Narendra Modi Congratulates Record-Breaking Swimmer Bhakti Sharma". NDTV Sports. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
5. "The Hindu Article". Retrieved 16 January 2015.
6. "Lake Zurich Swim Results 2006" (PDF). Retrieved 8 February 2015.
7. "Bhakti Sharma: Conquers the seven seas". Retrieved 7 July 2015.
8. "Swimming against the tide". Retrieved 7 July 2015.
9. "Swim to educate with Bhakti Sharma". Retrieved 7 July 2015.
10. "First Woman to swim in four oceans". Retrieved 7 July 2015.
11. "Bhakti Sharma: The open water swimmer who conquered five oceans". Retrieved 7 July 2015.
12. "The Water Girl Of India: Bhakti Sharma Sets The World Record In Antarctic Ocean". Retrieved 7 July 2015.
13. "Bhakti Sharma - Profile". Retrieved 7 July 2015.
14. "World Record in Antarctica Ocean". Retrieved 15 January 2015.
15. "Indian swimmer Bhakti Sharma sets world record in Antarctic Ocean". Retrieved 5 February 2015.