Karnam Malleswari winning bronze
Indian weightlifter Karnam Malleswari made history in Sydney where, in 2000, she became the first ever Indian woman to win a medal at the Olympic Games.
The then-25 year old lifted 110kg in the snatch and 130kg in the clean-and-jerk to lift a total of 240kg, the third-best at that year’s Olympics.
With no past Indian idols to look up to, difficulties in finding training and being a pathbreaker in a sport that was never considered traditionally ‘female’ in India, Malleswari broke a number of barriers to bring Olympic glory to the country.
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