Sensational Chanu wins historic silver

A confident smile never leaving her face, Mirabai Chanu ended India’s over two-decadelong wait for a weightlifting medal at the Olympics, clinching the 49 kg category silver medal five years after leaving the same platform in tears following a disastrous debut.

With her historic triumph, she ensured that India was second on the medals tally for a brief while, a feat that has never been achieved before by the country. It was also the first time that India managed to win a medal in the Opening Day competitions.

The diminutive iron lady from Manipur lifted a total of 202 kg (87 kg+115 kg) to better Karnam Malleswari’s bronze in the 2000 Sydney Olympics. With this, she exorcised the ghosts of the 2016 Games where she had failed to log a single legitimate lift, leaving her shattered.

“I am very happy, I have been dreaming of this for the past five years. I am very proud of myself right now. I did try for gold but even silver is a great achievement for me,” Chanu told reporters after her career-defining triumph for which she had been training in the US for the past few months.

The 2016 experience was a watershed in her career and Chanu had spoken about how confused she had felt during her debut at the biggest stage. There were none of those nerves to be seen on Saturday, just a very composed and focussed athlete who knew she was destined for the podium.

“I am very happy to win the first medal for India at these Games. I don’t just belong to Manipur, I belong to the whole country,” she said in response to a query on what it meant for her as a Manipuri.