Meet Swapnil Kusale, a ticket collector who won a bronze medal at the Paris Olympics 2024: All about his family, career, inspiring journey

Indian professional shooter Swapnil Kusale created history today (August 1, 2024) by winning a bronze medal at the Paris Olympics 2024. Swapnil, 28, won India’s third medal at the Paris Olympics 2024 for clinching the third position in the 50m rifle 3 positions event. His win is also historic for India as this is the first time that our shooting contingent have won three medals at the Olympics.
But apart from being a professional shooter, did you know that Swapnil works full-time as a ticket collector? Read more about his inspiring journey from a small village in Maharashtra to winning a medal at the Olympics here.
Early days and family

Swapnil Kusale was born on August 6, 1995, in Kambalwadi village in Kolhapur district. At the age of just 14 in 2009, his father Suresh Kusale enrolled him at the Maharashtra government‘s Krida Prabhodini sports programme. And after a year of rigorous training, Kusale chose shooting as a sport.
“Right from the age of ten years, Swapnil has stayed in government residential schools and later trained in Pune as well working as TTE with The Indian Railways in Pune. He rarely gets time to visit us at the village but whenever he comes, he makes sure to bring something for all of us. To see him coming home with an Olympics medal this time will be indeed a special moment for all of us and we would make him stay longer at the village this time. The village kids and elders should also see his Olympic medal,” his father Suresh Kusale told The Indian Express.
Interestingly, his mother Anita Kusale is also the Sarpanch of their village.
Swapnil Kusale’s inspiring journey

Swapnil’s first big shot to fame came in 2015, when he won a gold medal in 2015 Asian Shooting Championships for the 50m rifle prone 3 category. This was followed by a gold medal in the National Championships which was held in Kerala, for the same category.
It was also in 2015 when Swapnil secured a job as a ticket collector for the Indian Railways– just like legendary cricketer MS Dhoni– in Pune. Before that, Swapnil and other professional shooters used to practice from a common rifle and later he was given a rifle by the Maharashtra Government. After securing a job as a ticket collector, Swapnil saved his salary for a few months to buy his first ever rifle, as per reports.
Over the years, Swapnil gradually rose in the ranks and in 2017 he won a bronze medal in the 50m rifle prone event at the Commonwealth Championships which was held in Brisbane. He also won a gold at the 2021 ISSF Shooting World Cup, followed by another win at the 2022 Asian Games which were held in Hangzhou.

Though Swapnil got the fourth position at the 2022 World Championships in Cairo, and he was fifth in the trials, as luck would have it- Swapnil was selected to represent the country in the Paris Olympics 2024. And rightly so! Swapnil, who is coached by Deepali Deshpande, has not just created history in his first-ever Olympics but has also made the whole nation proud with his win today!
Congratulating Swapnil on his win, Olympian Abhinav Bindra tweeted