Ending India’s over two-decade long wait for a weightlifting medal at the Olympics, Mirabai Chanu clinched the 49kg category silver medal five years after leaving the same platform in tears following a disastrous debut.
The 26-year-old lifted a total of 202 kg (87kg in snatch and 115kg in clean and jerk) during her four successful attempts across the competition.
Mirabai Chanu has become the second weightlifter after Karnam Malleswari to win a medal at the Games. Malleswari had won a bronze in the 69kg category at the 2000 Sydney Games when the weightlifting arena was opened to women for the first time.
The gold was won by China’s Hou Zhihui with an effort of 210kg and the bronze by Indonesia’s Aisah Windy Cantika with an effort of 194kg.
Mirabai Chanu successfully lifted the 84 kg and 87 kg but failed to lift the 89 kg in the third attempt. She finished in second place after the snatch. This is her personal best which is equal to her snatch in the 2017 World Championship, in which she won the gold medal. China’s HOU Zhihu lifted 94kg to create an Olympic record and remained in the first position.
“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 said.
The diminutive Mannipuri broke down after realising that she has secured a medal and hugged head coach Vijay Sharma in jubiliation.
Her cabinet includes a coveted world championship gold medal, two Commonwealth Games medals — silver in 2014 and gold in 2018 — and an Asian Championship bronze.
