India won its first gold medal at the Commonwealth Games 2022 on Saturday, July 30, when Olympic medallist and ace weightlifter Mirabai Chanu clinched gold in the women's 49 kg weightlifting category.
Chanu aggregated a total of 201 kg (88 kg and 113kg), a Commonwealth Games record. Mauritius' Marie Hanitra Roilya Ranaivosoa won the silver medal (172 kg), while the bronze medal went to Canada's Hannah Kaminski (171 kg).
Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Mirabai Chanu on her exceptional performance, saying: “Her success inspires several Indians, especially budding athletes.”
However, Chanu, who won silver at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics last year and a gold at the Commonwealth Games 2022, had to beat poverty and jump over endless hurdles to reach this level.
Early life
Chanu was born on August 8, 1994, in a poor family in Nongpok Kakching village, 20 km from Imphal. She was the youngest among the six siblings. Her childhood was riddled with challenges, most of which she spent cutting and collecting firewood from nearby hills. Her family noticed her strength to lift heavy weights and pushed her for the sport.
Chanu had been interested in sports from the beginning. It is believed that she chose to be an archer earlier. However, on the day she visited the archery centre, it was closed. It was then that Chanu noticed that some weightlifters were training. She was also inspired by the exploits of Indian weightlifting legend Kunjarani Devi, who was also from Manipur.
Training was difficult as her parents could barely support her financially. Also, Chanu had to change buses twice to reach her training centre, which was 22 km away from her village.
Breaking records
En route to the gold medal at the Commonwealth Games, Chanu picked up other medals as well. Her first medal came in the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games, where she won silver in the women’s 48 kg weight class.
She had a disappointing performance at the Rio Olympics in 2016, where she failed in all three attempts on her clean and jerk lifts.
“I was really low after the Olympics. It took me a lot of time to get over the disappointment,” The Hindu quoted Chanu as saying in an interview about her Rio Olympics experience. She said she contemplated “giving up the sport and stop training.”
The following year, Chanu clinched a gold medal at the Anaheim World Weightlifting Championships (48 kg), setting a competition record. She won another gold at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games 2018.
In 2020, Chanu took the top spot in India’s national weightlifting event, lifting 203 kg, and also bagged a bronze at the Asian weightlifting event.
Injuries
Chanu’s journey to gold at the Commonwealth games is a reminder of resilience and perseverance of the Indian weightlifter. Chanu suffered injuries, continuous pain, shoulder instability and weakness, and back and hip issues. She had to take unplanned training breaks during the COVID-19 lockdowns, which affected her training regimen and strength. Her coach Vijay Sharma had taken her to St. Louis USA to get her checked by Dr Aaron Horschig, a weightlifter-turned-physiotherapist, who has worked with top athletes. Dr Horschig identified Chanu’s problems and helped fix the issues.
Awards
Chanu was awarded the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna in 2018. The same year, she won the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award for her contribution to sports in the country. In 2018, Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh gave Chanu a cash prize of Rs 20 lakh.
Hard work continues
Talking to ESPN from NIS Patiala ahead of the Commonwealth Games, Chanu said she was focussing on improving her skills further and trained harder after her Tokyo medal.
"I have had to work harder because I want to win more than the silver from Tokyo. I want to work harder than before. This medal was not an end for me, I want to go even further," Chanu told ESPN.
