Eldhose Paul Biography
Eldhose Paul, an Indian athlete who participates in the triple jump, was born on November 7, of the year 1996. Eldhose Paul was the first Indian to make it to the World Athletics Championships triple jump final in the year 2022. Eldhose Paul became the first Indian to win a gold medal in the men’s triple jump event at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Early Life and Career
On November 7, of the year 1996, Eldhose Paul was born in Kolenchery, a rural village in Kerala that is 26 km from the metropolis of Ernakulam. When he was just 4 years old, his mother Mariakutty passed away.
The care of Eldhose Paul and his younger brother Abin was provided by their daily-wage labourer father Kochuthottathil Paulose. Mariyamma, their grandma, made an effort to replace the space left by their mother.
Before making history at the CWG final, Eldhose Paul told the Indian Express, “It goes without saying that without her (Mariyamma), I would not be who I am today. For all these years, she provided for the child in every way a mother would. She raised me and instilled in me all the essential life lessons.”
Eldhose Paul attended the Alangad Krishnan Elayath Memorial High School. Eldhose Paul also started working odd jobs like rubber tapping and roofing outside of school hours to support his aspirations.
Eldhose Paul recognised that because he was good at athletics and average at school, he needed to play to his strengths if he wanted to land a quality career.
Eldhose Paul began by competing in pole vault competitions, where he even took home awards. His achievements enabled him to qualify for the sports quota at Kothamangalam’s Mar Athanasius College.
Eldhose’s talent was later developed by TP Ouseph, a former national jumps coach who had coached the illustrious Anju Bobby George and Bobby Aloysius to success at the world level after they switched to long jump and triple leap.
Eldhose Paul attended the Alangad Krishnan Elayath Memorial High School. Eldhose Paul also started working odd jobs like rubber tapping and roofing outside of school hours to support his aspirations.
Eldhose Paul recognized that because he was good at athletics and average at school, he needed to play to his strengths if he wanted to land a quality career.
Eldhose Paul began by competing in pole vault competitions, where he even took home awards. His achievements enabled him to qualify for the sports quota at Kothamangalam’s Mar Athanasius College.
Eldhose’s talent was later developed by TP Ouseph, a former national jumps coach who had coached the illustrious Anju Bobby George and Bobby Aloysius to success at the world level after they switched to long jump and triple leap.
Eldhose had untapped potential. His highest jump when he entered the institution under the sports quota was about 13.40 metres, a distance often only reached by female jumpers, according to TP Ouseph, speaking to The New Indian Express.
Later, Eldhose Paul was hired by the Indian Navy and competed for Services in national events.
Medals and Achievements
Eldhose, a short-height triple jumper, made significant progress in 2018-19, winning podium finishes at Services and state championships. In 2021, he won the gold medal in three Indian Grand Prix athletics events and his maiden national title in Patiala. Paul competed in his first competition outside India at Almaty in June 2022, which was his last-ditch effort to qualify for the world athletics championships in Oregon.
Despite clinching a silver and securing the final spot for the 32-man triple jump event, Paul had to run pillar to post to secure a US visa and only managed to fly to Oregon a day before the competition. With his coach Hari Krishnan unable to make it to Oregon due to visa issues, Paul became the first Indian triple jumper to qualify for the world championships finals. He finished ninth among 12 world-class competitors with a 16.79m effort in the final.
Career Highlights
At the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham on August 8, 2022, Eldhose Paul won India’s first gold medal in the men’s triple jump competition. Eldhose made history a few weeks earlier when he qualified for the World Athletics Championships final in Oregon for the first time ever as a triple jumper from India.
The athlete from Kerala, who is in his mid-20s, can be viewed as a late bloomer. Eldhose, on the other hand, attributes his accomplishments to the years of perseverance that came before them.
Eldhose said to Sport Star the day before winning the historic gold, “There was no magic spark or one major occasion that landed me here. Everything eventually came together as a result of the thousands of tiny little things I kept doing to get me on the stage where I am standing now.”
Bio Data
Full Name: Eldhose Paul
Born: 7 November 1996
Age: 26 Years
Birth Place: Ernakulam, Kerala, India
College: Alma mater Mar Athanasius College, Kothamangalam National Cadet Corps
