Occupation Skydiver Years active since 1979 | Name Rachel Thomas Role Skydiver | |
Awards Padma Shri
National Adventure Sports Award | ||
Rachel Thomas is an Indian sportsperson, known to be the first woman skydiver from India. A former employee of Indian Railways, she is reported to be the first international woman judge from India and has the record of skydiving over the North Pole in 2002. She is known to have effected 650 jumps in 18 countries in her career since her first jump in 1979. She has been a member of the team that did practice jumps into the Olympic Stadium, Seoul, Korea, one year prior to the 1988 Summer Olympics. A winner of the National Adventure Sports Award, she was honored again by the Government of India, again in 2005, with the fourth highest Indian civilian award of Padma Shri.
Rachel Thomas is married to Thomas, an Indian Army officer and the family lives in Vasant Kunj, New Delhi. The couple has two children, a son, Dennis, and a daughter, Annie who is a Femina Miss India winner in 1998.