Indian Athlete Juggles 3 Jobs to Chase Olympic Dream

Most Olympic hopefuls struggle to balance training with a part-time job. Tejaswin Shankar just added teaching college students and pursuing a master's degree to his plate.

The 27-year-old Indian decathlete arrived at Kansas State University this month with an unusual mission. He wants to qualify for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics while studying exercise science and teaching biomechanics to undergrads.

Shankar already holds India's decathlon record with 7,826 points. He's won three Asian Championship medals, a Commonwealth Games bronze, and an NCAA title during his first stint at Kansas State.

But last August, something gnawed at him. He'd been sharing training tips on his YouTube channel, drawing from years of elite competition. Then a question stopped him cold: What if his advice was wrong?

"It's easy to give gyan on YouTube, but what is the guarantee that whatever I'm saying is correct?" Shankar said from his campus in Manhattan, Kansas. He wanted academic credentials before dispensing fitness wisdom to thousands of followers.

So he packed his bags and returned to the university where he once competed. This time, he can't participate in NCAA events because his eligibility expired. He trains alongside younger decathletes coached by Kip Janvrin, a former Pan American Games champion who once scored 8,500 points.

That number matters. Shankar aims to become the first Indian to break the 8,000-point barrier in decathlon, a grueling two-day event across ten track and field disciplines.

Training in America offers him more than just good coaching. He'll spend two years in the country hosting the next Olympics, learning the venues and conditions. His weaker event, pole vault, happens to be his training partners' strength.

"I want to be where I'm pushed in training every day," he said. "Unlike in Delhi, where I was practicing by myself and coaching myself."

His schedule would exhaust most people. Six training days per week, two classes as a student, three classes as a teaching assistant. The kinesiology department funds his education in exchange for teaching duties.

The teaching part terrifies him a little. His bachelor's and first master's were in accounting and finance, subjects far removed from exercise physiology. He gets lecture materials a week early and takes detailed notes, hoping students don't ask questions he can't answer.

Why This Inspires

Shankar's return to school reveals something deeper than Olympic ambition. He recognizes that great athletes don't always make great coaches because bias creeps in.

"Just because you were a good athlete, sometimes a lot of things that come to you naturally might not come to another athlete," he explained. "There's 10 ways to high jump, but in my bias, I'll only look at that one way."

With academic training, he believes he'll appreciate all the different paths to excellence. His professors recommended kinesiology for its deep dive into how bodies actually work, how energy systems function, how movement patterns develop.

Once armed with both a master's degree and elite competition experience, Shankar's coaching advice will carry weight that neither credential alone could provide. His journey proves that the best teachers never stop learning, even when they're already champions.