Google Doodle Celebrating Padma Shri Arati Gupta : First Asian Sportswoman To Swim Across English Channel

New Delhi : Unnati Khandelwal Arati Saha who was best known for becoming 1st Asian sportswoman to swim across English Channel in 1959 is today being celebrated on her 80th birthday by Google as it made a Google doodle on her. 

Indian Bengali long distance swimmer was born on September 24th,1940 in Kolkata and was also awarded the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian honour in India in 1960. The Google doodle represents the 67 km route from Cape Gris Nez in France to Sandgate, England. The doodle was illustrated by Lavanya Naidu who is a Kolkata based artist. Expressing herself on her doodling, the swimmer Lavanya quoted, "Having been born and raised in the city of Kolkata, for me, Arati Saha was a known household name growing up. My brother and I used to be avid stamp collectors as kids and I remember our excitement when her stamp was issued in the 90s!" Honoured by Google today, as mentioned above, Saha was also awarded the Padma Shri in 1960, but most significantly, she was the first woman awarded by this honor.

Legendary Swimmer Arati Saha started taking her swimming lessons from the age of four on the banks of Hooghly River. Saha trained under the mentorship of one of India’s best competitive swimmers, Sachin Nag. At a very young age of five, Saha won her first gold medal. Achieving through the waves, she broke various swimming records at the age of 11. As turned 12, Saha joined India’s first team to participate in the 1952 Summer Olympics in Finland. She was one of the only four women to make the team. 

She covered a distance of 67.5 km in 16 hours and 20 minutes and hereby, In 1959 Saha registered her name as the first woman from Asia to swim across the English channel. After completing her distance, upon reaching the English channel, she hoisted the Indian flag. In 1999, the Indian postal department celebrated her achievements by bringing out a postage stamp of ₹ 3 denomination.