India has been waiting for a long time to get a medal at the Olympics. Karanam Maheshwari had won a bronze medal at the Sydney 2000 Olympics, since then India has been waiting very eagerly for the next medal. However, the desperate waiting has ended. Mirabai Chanu won the silver medal at the 2020 Olympics for India. The 2020 Olympics was postponed to 2021 because of the COVID crisis.
Mirabai Chanu has lifted a total of 202kg weight with 87kg in snatch and 115kg in clean and jerk. Initially, at the Olympics, she started with 84kg in her first snatch attempt. With a calm mind and hardcore preparations, she lifted 84kg successfully. Then she went for 87kg in her next attempt and finished it successfully. The whole crowd was amazed at her performance and looking with blazing eyes for the next attempt.
Finally, she raised the weight to 89kg which was 1kg more than her best of 88kg that she had successfully lifted at the national championship last year.
However, it got beyond her capacity and she settled for 87kg in the snatch. Coming to clean jerk, Mirabai Chanu started her first attempt with 110kg and then lifted 115kg.
She tried to go for the 117kg in her final attempt but couldn’t make it. Most importantly, she was good enough to fetch a silver medal for India. Finally, she has successfully ended India’s long wait for this moment with her mesmerizing performance. It was a very proud moment for the whole country. Every Indian felt proud and millions of wishes poured from every corner of India.
In the first place, China’s Hou Zhihui took the gold medal for her country by lifting 210kg, 94kg in snatch, and 116kg in clean jerk. In third place, Aisah Windy Cantika of Indonesia successfully took home the bronze by lifting 194kg, 84kg in snatch, and 110kg in clean jerk.
Mirabai Chanu celebrated her success with some cool dance moves and hugged her coach in joy. She is an inspiration for millions of people. Anyone who knows her story will truly get inspired and appreciate her will to come back from her devastating loss in 2016.
She had failed in her debut into the Olympics as a young 21-year-old under the 48kg category. But she didn’t finish the game as expected. As a result, she was the only participant who had the term Did not finish written in front of her name.
But Mirabai Chanu had a very stubborn and strong will to not let that failure stop her from all the future glory. She persisted in weightlifting and made some remarkable records along the way. Later she won a gold medal in the 2017 World Weightlifting Championships and she made a new competition record. Along with that, she won a gold medal once again at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
She returned to Olympics again stronger than ever, made her mark, and ended India’s long wait for the medal at Olympics in weightlifting for nearly 20 years. Her performance was very mesmerizing and unforgettable for the audience. The whole country is proud of her amazing journey and congratulated Mirabai Chanu.