By Anmol Alphonso
An old video from July 2018 of Indian sprinter Hima Das clinching gold in the Women's 400m final at the World U20 Championships is being shared with a false claim that she won gold at the Commonwealth Games 2022 being held in Birmingham, United Kingdom.
Das is participating as part of India's women's relay team in 200m and 4x100m at the CWG 2022. The sprinter events are yet to begin in ongoing the CWG and are scheduled for next week in August. A 215-member (111 men and 104 women) Indian contingent will compete in 15 sports at the Birmingham CWG 2022, which started on July 28, 2022, and will run till August 8, 2022.
Several prominent Twitter handles including former cricketer Virender Sehwag and BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra fell for the same fake claim and congratulated Das for winning a gold medal at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
Patra and Sehwag deleted their tweets at the time of writing this article.
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The 2.20 minute video is viral on social media falsely linking it to the CWG 2022 claiming Das has won gold.
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The viral video is being shared on Facebook and WhatsApp with the caption, "In a thrilling World Athletics women's 400m final, the diminutive *Hima Das* of India massacres field to grab the *Gold Medal* . Rice eating Hima from a poor Assamese family defeated bigger and stronger White and black athletes. Spirit counts"
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FACT-CHECK
BOOM found that the viral video is from July 2018 when Hima Das won gold in the Women's 400m final at the 2018 World U20 Championships in Tampere, Finland. Das has not yet begun her campaign and the events she is participating in - 200m and 4x100m relay races are set to begin next week in August.
On viewing the viral video, at the 34 seconds timestamp, we can see banners in the background reading, 'Visit Tampere', and 'IAAF U20 World Championships Tampere 2018'. The ongoing Commonwealth games are being held in Birmingham, United Kingdom which gives a cue that the video is old.
Taking a hint from this, we searched with the keywords 'Hima Das, 2018, Tampere' and found that the viral video is from July 12, 2018, when Das won gold in the Women's 400m final at the World U20 Championships in Tampere, Finland.
We found a longer version of the viral video uploaded on YouTube from the event by a user in August 2018. The same set of events can be seen in this video as in the viral video.
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We also found Das's interview given just after she won gold at that race, which can be seen below.
Additionally, we also found several news reports from July 12, 2018, with photos from this race reporting on Das scripting history by winning gold at the 400m final at IAAF U20 Athletics Championships in Tampere, Finland, becoming the first Indian athlete to do so in a track event.
