Rupali Ramdas Repale (born 3 February 1982 in Mumbai), is an

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

open-water long-distance swimmer and triathlete. She swam the English Channel in the solo swim category on 15 August 1994 in a time span of 16 hours and 7 minutes, making her the youngest successful swimmer (12 years old) to cross the English Channel for the year 1994. She swam a total of seven straits during the course of her swimming career,

Gibraltar Strait The Strait of Gibraltar ( ar, مضيق جبل طارق, Maḍīq Jabal Ṭāriq; es, Estrecho de Gibraltar, Archaic: Pillars of Hercules), also known as the Straits of Gibraltar, is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Med ...

Palk Strait The Palk Strait ( ta, பாக்கு நீரிணை ''Pākku Nīriṇai'', si, පෝක් සමුද්‍ර සන්ධිය ''Pok Samudra Sandhiya'') is a strait between the Tamil Nadu state of India and the Jaffna Distri ...

Bass Strait Bass Strait () is a strait separating the island state of Tasmania from the Australian mainland (more specifically the coast of Victoria, with the exception of the land border across Boundary Islet). The strait provides the most direct wat ...

Cook Strait Cook Strait ( mi, Te Moana-o-Raukawa) separates the North and South Islands of New Zealand. The strait connects the Tasman Sea on the northwest with the South Pacific Ocean on the southeast. It is wide at its narrowest point,McLintock, A ...

, Robben Island Channel and Mumbai-Dharamtar Channel.

Early life and background

Rupali Repale was born in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...

, the daughter of Ramdas Repale and Rekha Repale, who were small-scale business owners from a modest financial background. Born in rural

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, ( the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million As of 2021, Pune Metropolitan Region is the largest i ...

, both the parents moved to Mumbai city in 1970s shortly before their marriage and settled in

Bhandup Bhandup (Pronunciation: ʱaːɳɖup is a suburban locality in Mumbai, in the state of Maharashtra, India. The name ''Bhandup'' is derived from ''Bhandupeshwar'', one of the names of the Hindu god Shiva. An old temple dedicated to Lord Shiva ...

, a suburb of Mumbai. Rupali completed her schooling at Bright High School & Junior College Bhandup-(west) and went on to graduate with a degree in sociology from

Mumbai University The University of Mumbai is a collegiate, state-owned, public research university in Mumbai. The University of Mumbai is one of the largest universities in the world. , the university had 711 affiliated colleges. Ratan Tata is the appointed h ...

.
Rupali started swimming at an early age and soon developed a penchant for it. She showed remarkable stamina even at an early age and could swim for hours at a stretch. Noticed by her coaches and later backed by her father, she soon started training for long-distance events and later in the open waters. Apart from swimming, she also participates in

Triathlon A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of swimming, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the time transitioning between the d ...

events and has achieved many accolades in it as well.

Swimming career

* 1994:

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" ( Cotentinais) or (Jèrriais), ( Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kan ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

, 34 kilometers in 16 hours and 7 minutes. Youngest Swimmer for the year 1994. * 1994:

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' ( Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria ...

, 28 kilometers in 5 hours and 5 minutes. * 1995:

Dharamtar Dharamtar port is on the right bank of the Amba river (i.e., Dharamtar creek) and is from its mouth. Approximately from Wadkhal village on NH-17. The port is from the state highway that runs through Pen to Alibag and is away from National ...

two-way

Gateway of India The Gateway of India is an arch-monument built in the early 20th century in the city of Mumbai (Bombay), India. It was erected to commemorate the landing of King-Emperor George V, the first British monarch to visit India, in December 1911 a ...

swim, 72 kilometers in 21 hours and 30 minutes. * 1995:

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

, 40 kilometers in 11 hours and 5 minutes. * 1996:

, Phillip Bay to

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a me ...

, 65 kilometers in 17 hours, required swimming within the confines of a cage due to the shark-infested nature of the strait. * 1998:

, Pegano Head to

Waipiro Bay Waipiro Bay is a small coastal settlement in the Gisborne District on the East Coast of the North Island of New Zealand. The name also refers to the bay that the settlement is built on. It was named Waipiro by Chief Paoa, which translates literall ...

(

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

), 80 kilometers in 19 hours 44 minutes, record for the longest successful swim in first attempt * 2000:

Three Anchor Bay Three Anchor Bay is a suburb of Cape Town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Small anchorage in Table Bay. The name, first encountered in 1661, possibly refers to anchors securing chains stretched as defence across the bay. The form ...

Robben Island Robben Island ( af, Robbeneiland) is an island in Table Bay, 6.9 kilometres (4.3 mi) west of the coast of Bloubergstrand, north of Cape Town, South Africa. It takes its name from the Dutch word for seals (''robben''), hence the Dutch/Afr ...

(

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...

) two-way. 30 kilometers in 7 hrs.

Awards and honors

* National Youth Award awarded by then

President of India The president of India ( IAST: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, as well as the commander-in-chief of the Indian Armed Forces. Droupadi Mur ...

late Hon.

Shankar Dayal Sharma Shankar Dayal Sharma (; 19 August 1918 – 26 December 1999) was an Indian lawyer and politician from the state of Madhya Pradesh who served as the ninth President of India, from 1992 to 1997. Born in Bhopal, Sharma studied at Agra, Allaha ...

, Bhopal 1995. *

Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award The Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award, formerly known as the National Adventure Awards is the highest adventure sports honour of the Republic of India. The award is named after Tenzing Norgay, one of the first two individuals to reach th ...

awarded by then Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports (India) Hon.

Uma Bharti Uma Bharti (born 3 May 1959) is an Indian politician and former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh. She became involved with the Bharatiya Janata Party at a young age, unsuccessfully contesting her first parliamentary elections in 1984. In 1989, ...

, New Delhi 1999. * HIMA Foundation Award awarded by then

Governor of Maharashtra The governor of Maharashtra is the ceremonial head of the state of Maharashtra. The Constitution of India confers the executive powers of the state to the governor, however the de facto executive powers lie with the Council of Ministers. Bhagat ...

late Hon. Dr. P C Alexander, Mumbai 1995. * Sagar Kanya title conferred upon by the Government of Maharashtra. * Dolphin Queen title conferred upon by the Government of New Zealand.

Present activities

Rupali is the founder and director of Rupali Industries, a water purification based home appliance company. In her spare time she likes to coach young talent at local swimming pools.

Books on Rupali

* Biographical book Jal Akramile (

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people *Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece See also * * ...

) written by Sumedh Vadavala and published by Rajhans Prakashans. * Excerpt from Rupali's book is included in the Maharashtra state school curriculum to encourage youth involvement in sports.http://cart.ebalbharati.in/BalBooks/pdfs/701010001.pdf

References

External links

Official Site
*

Junnar Taluka Junnar taluka is a taluka (subdivision) of the Pune district in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is northernmost taluka of the District.The area is well known for two of the Ashtavinayak temples at Lenyadri and Ozar respectively. The taluka ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Repale, Rupali 1982 births Living people Indian female swimmers English Channel swimmers Strait of Gibraltar Palk Strait Recipients of the Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award Female long-distance swimmers Athletes from Mumbai Sportswomen from Maharashtra 20th-century Indian women 20th-century Indian people Swimmers from Mumbai