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{{short description|Indian swimmer (born 1970)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2024}}
{{Infobox swimmer
| name = Bula Choudhury
| image = Bula Choudhury (cropped).jpg
| caption = Choudhury in 2004
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1970|01|02|df=y}}
| birth_place = Hugli, West Bengal, India
| national_team = {{IND}}
| strokes = Freestyle, Butterfly
| show-medals = yes
| medaltemplates =
{{MedalSport | Women's [[swimming (sport)|swimming]]}}
{{MedalCountry|{{IND}}}}
{{MedalCompetition|[[South Asian Games]]}}
{{MedalGold|[[1991 South Asian Games|1991 Colombo]]|[[Swimming at the 1991 South Asian Federation Games|50 m freestyle]]}}
{{MedalGold|[[1991 South Asian Games|1991 Colombo]]|[[Swimming at the 1991 South Asian Federation Games|100 m freestyle]]}}
{{MedalGold|[[1991 South Asian Games|1991 Colombo]]|[[Swimming at the 1991 South Asian Federation Games|100 m butterfly]]}}
{{MedalGold|[[1991 South Asian Games|1991 Colombo]]|[[Swimming at the 1991 South Asian Federation Games|200 m butterfly]]}}
}}

'''Bula Choudhury''' (born 2 January 1970 in Hugli, India) is an Indian former swimmer. She is an [[Arjuna Award|Arjuna awardee]], [[Padma Shri|Padma shri awardee]], former India national women's swimming champion and elected as [[Member of the Legislative Assembly (India)|MLA]] from 2006 to 2011 representing [[Nandanpur Assembly constituency|Nandanpur]] in [[West Bengal]] state of [[India]].<ref name="Padma Awards">{{cite web |url=http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf |title=Padma Awards |publisher=Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India |date=2015 |access-date=21 July 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151015193758/http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf |archive-date=15 October 2015}}</ref>

==Swimming career==
Her first national competition, at age nine, she dominated her age group by winning six gold medals in six events. She continued to improve, winning various junior and national championships, as well as six gold medals at the 1991 [[South Asian Games|South Asian Federation Games]]. She went to her first nationals, at the age of 12, which is an all-time record. This also guaranteed her a place in the relay quartet for the Brisbane Commonwealth Games as well as a prominent place on the list of Asiad probables.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/sport/story/19821015-bula-choudhury-seems-all-set-to-become-a-female-mark-spitz-772300-2013-08-02 |title=Bula Choudhury seems all set to become a female Mark Spitz |date=2 August 2013 |website=India Today |language=en |access-date=22 November 2019}}</ref>

In 1984 she set a national 100m butterfly record of 1:06.19 sec. During the Seoul Asian Games in 1986, she created a record of 1:05.27 sec in 100m butterfly and another record of 2:19.60 sec in 200m butterfly.<ref name="mapsofindia.com">{{Cite web |url=https://www.mapsofindia.com/who-is-who/sports/bula-choudhury.html |title=Bula Chowdhury : Biography, Profile, Records, Awards and Achievement |date=2 February 2018 |website=Who-is-who |language=en |access-date=22 November 2019}}</ref> Choudhury started long-distance swimming in 1989 and crossed the English Channel that year. She won the 81-km (50- mile) Murshidabad Long Distance Swim in 1996, and in 1999 she crossed the English Channel again. In August 2004, she set this record by swimming across the Palk Straits from Talaimannar in Sri Lanka to Dhanushkodi in Tamil Nadu in nearly 14 hours.<ref name="mapsofindia.com"/>

She became the first woman to have swum across sea channels off five continents in 2005 —including the Strait of Gibraltar, the Tyrrhenian Sea, Cook Strait, Toroneos Gulf (Gulf of Kassándra) in Greece, the Catalina Channel off the California coast, and from Three Anchor Bay to Robben Island near Cape Town, South Africa. She created a record for swimming the 30 km track in 3 hours & 26 minutes. She is now planning to establish a swimming academy in [[Kolkata]].{{Citation needed|date= May 2022}}

==Awards and distinctions==
* First woman to cross [[seven seas]].
* Twice swam the [[English Channel]] first in 1989 and again in 1999.
* [[Arjuna Award]] in 1990.
* [[Padma Shri]] award.<ref name="Padma Awards"/>
* [[Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award]] 2002<ref name="t2002">{{cite press release |title=Arjuna Award and Dronacharya Award for the year 2003 announced |url=http://pibarchive.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=3871 |publisher=Press Information Bureau, India |access-date=18 September 2020 |date=15 September 2004}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Swimming in India]]
* [[List of Indian records in swimming]]
* [[Kutraleeswaran]]

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070319004355/http://news.indiainfo.com/2004/08/20/2008bula.html India Info page on Bula]
*[http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1093754.cms Times of India article]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20080129220859/http://www.indiaenews.com/sports/20080128/94244.htm India News article]

==External links==
*[https://thebridge.in/swimming/bula-choudhury-arjuna-awardee-who-swims-under-radar/]

{{Padma Shri Award Recipients in Sports}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Choudhury, Bula}}
[[Category:1970 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Indian female swimmers]]
[[Category:Indian female freestyle swimmers]]
[[Category:Indian female butterfly swimmers]]
[[Category:Indian female long-distance swimmers]]
[[Category:Swimmers from West Bengal]]
[[Category:Sportswomen from West Bengal]]
[[Category:English Channel swimmers]]
[[Category:Cook Strait swimmers]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Arjuna Award]]
[[Category:People from Hooghly district]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Shri in sports]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award]]
[[Category:Communist Party of India (Marxist) politicians from West Bengal]]
[[Category:West Bengal MLAs 2006–2011]]
[[Category:Women members of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly]]
[[Category:South Asian Games gold medalists for India]]
[[Category:South Asian Games medalists in swimming]]
[[Category:Medalists at the 1991 South Asian Games]]
[[Category:Indian sportsperson-politicians]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian people]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian women politicians]]
[[Category:Bengali swimmers]]

Bula Choudhury - Revision history

imported>Fabvill: Updated short description