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The world had its first look at Mirabai Chanu at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. The then 19-year-old diminutive yet powerful girl from Manipur had to register a good lift in her third and last attempt at the clean and jerk 48kg category to overtake Sanjita Chanu (also from India) and win a Commonwealth gold medal.
She jumped on the stage with a lot of focus and determination. Mirabai Chanu gave it her all to lift the 98kg weight in the clean and jerk category. However, as soon as she started to celebrate her victory, she got the verdict of no lift from the judges. It was an emotional rollercoaster for Chanu as her tears of joy turned into major disappointment.
Although Mirabai Chanu won a silver medal for India, she looked discontented with her performance. There was a lot of fire in her eyes to do something big for India.
Cut to seven years later, with her will and determination, Mirabai Chanu has become one of India's greatest medal hopes at the Tokyo Olympics.
However, the path to success for Mirabai Chanu has not been an easy one. She has had her fair share of ups and downs in her career. We can broadly stipulate her career in three parts.
Improved performances of Mirabai Chanu before the 2016 Rio Olympics
After winning the silver medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, Mirabai Chanu swiftly became the best weightlifter in her weight category in India. Her combined personal best in snatch and clean & jerk improved by more than 10 kgs in 2015.
She lifted a combined total weight of 183 kgs (81kg in Snatch and 102 kg in C&J) to finish 9th in her weight category at the 2015 World Weightlifting Championships. This performance by Mirabai Chanu further consolidated her position as the best weightlifter in India in the women's 48kg category above Sanjita Chanu.
She further improved her Personal Best to 190 kg (84 kg in Snatch and 106 kg in C&J) at the 2016 Asian Weightlifting championships. This performance ensured her qualification for the 2016 Rio Olympics.
The bitter disappointment of the Rio Olympics
In the lead up to the 2016 Olympics, Mirabai Chanu was seen as a medal contender by many experts. The main reason for that was her improved performances from the 2014 Commonwealth Games to the 2016 Asian Championships. She had improved her personal best by 20 kgs in 2 years.
However, at the 2016 Olympics, something didn't feel right. Mirabai Chanu managed to lift a weight of 82 kgs in the snatch category. This was 2kgs shy of her Asian Championships lift.
She started her C&J round with a failed lift at 104 kg. Seeing herself slipping out of medal contention, Mirabai Chanu increased a couple of kgs on the bar for her second attempt. However, she failed to lift 106 kg on her second and third attempt. She finished with a no-mark and tears of disappointment in her debut Olympics.
2017 and beyond: A comeback to savour
Mirabai Chanu moved on from the disappointment of the 2016 Olympics with some cracking performances in 2017. She won a gold medal at the 2017 Commonwealth Weightlifting Championships with a combined lift of 189 kg. But this would not be her best performance that year.
Mirabai Chanu announced her comeback on the world stage by becoming world champion in women's 48 kg category at the 2017 World Weightlifting Championships. It was for the first time in 20 years that an Indian woman weight-lifter won a gold medal at the World Championships.
Mirabai Chanu won a gold medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games with a combined total lift of 196 kg (National Record). For all these achievements in the 2017-18 season, Mirabai Chanu was conferred with Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna and Padma Shri.
In 2019, the doping ban on the participation of Chinese weightlifters was lifted. Due to this development, the challenge faced by Mirabai Chanu got that much stiffer. However, she has always stood up to challenges valiantly. She lifted a combined weight of 199 kg (86 kg in Snatch and 113 kg in C&J) to finish 4th at the 2019 Asian Weightlifting Championships.
Mirabai Chanu bettered her own national record at the 2019 World Weightlifting Championships by registering a lift of 201 kg (87 kg in Snatch and 114 kg in C&J) to finish 4th yet again. Although Mirabai Chanu was finishing just off the podium, she was improving every time she came up against the elite lifters of China and North Korea.
At the 2020 Asian Weightlifting Championships (2021), Mirabai Chanu came up with her career-best performance with a combined total of 205 kg. She lifted a world record weight of 119 kg in the Clean & Jerk category. This performance won Mirabai Chanu a bronze medal and made her a top contender at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in her weight category.
Hopes for the Tokyo Olympics 2020
In the recently released IWF rankings for the 2020 Olympics, Mirabai Chanu qualified for the women's 49 kg category (changed from 48 kg) in 2nd place behind world record holder Hou Zhihui of China. However, Mirabai Chanu looks very confident to bring back a gold medal from the Tokyo Olympics.
Mirabai Chanu is ready to take the bull by the horns and win a gold medal in the women's 49 kg category at the Tokyo Olympics. If she succeeds in doing so, she can inspire a generation of athletes to take up weightlifting. Moreover, it will also bring back the golden days of Indian weightlifting.
