Tokyo 2020: Mirabai Chanu – silver medal, golden girl

First day, first medal. That’s the piece of history Mirabai Chanu wrote for India as she thrust a 115kg barbell up above her with the practiced ease of a world beater. At the Tokyo International Forum, early in the morning of the first day after Olympics was declared open, Chanu won the silver in 49kg women’s weightlifting with a combined total of 202kg. It marked the first time that India has won a medal on the opening day of an Olympics, signaling what may turn out to be a landmark Games for the Indian contingent.

Chanu lifted 87kg in snatch and 115kg — just four kilos less than her own world record—in the clean & jerk, behind only China’s Hou Zhihui’s total of 210kg. Zhihui is the world record holder in the category.

Chanu’s coach Vijay Sharma’s booming voice resonated through the hall, as the diminutive lifter from Manipur ran to the backroom after her lifts to wrap herself around her 6ft2 father figure.

Chanu is now only the second weightlifter from India to win an Olympic medal, after Karnam Malleswari won bronze at the 2000 Sydney Games.

Someone from the coaching staff handed her a phone—on the other end was Jeremy Lalrinnunga and other teammates at their training base in Patiala, screaming and dancing with joy. Chanu broke into a jig herself. “Balle balle kiya!” she said, laughing.

After the medal ceremony, Chanu came out to the media area, the silver around her neck. She held it and kissed it.

“Medal bahut bhari hai, (the medal’s quite heavy),” she said, beaming throughout. “I wanted to win the gold, I tried, but I will accept the silver.

“I am very happy, I have been dreaming of this for the past five years. I am very proud of myself right now. The first thing I will do is party!”

“Could not have asked for a happier start to @Tokyo2020! India is elated by Mirabai Chanu’s stupendous performance… Congratulations to her for winning the Silver medal in weightlifting. Her success motivates every Indian,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted.

“Heartiest congratulations to Mirabai Chanu for starting the medal tally for India in the Tokyo Olympics 2020 by winning silver medal in weightlifting,” Congress leader Rahul Gandhi wrote on Twitter.

If not for Chanu, this day could have gone very differently for India. Or rather, it would have gone along more familiar lines. Indian athletes were involved in four medal events on the opening day, including Chanu’s event. In each of these events, the Indians were strong contenders— Saurabh Chaudhary and Abhishek Verma, both ranked in the top three in the world, in 10m air pistol; Elavenil Valarivan (seeded No 1 for Tokyo 2020) and world record holder Apurvi Chandela in 10m air rifle; and women’s world No 1 archer Deepika Kumari and Praveen Jadhav in mixed team archery. Yet, despite their billing, it was not their day and none of them could make it to the medal rounds, sparking fears that this could be yet another Olympics where India would have to wait anxiously for a medal.

Five long years

At the 2016 Rio Games, where Chanu had made her Olympics debut, everything had gone wrong for her. Of the six attempts given to lifters — three in snatch, three in clean & jerk — she had managed to complete just one lift in snatch.

Three months ago at the Asian Championships, she had almost relived that horror, with two no-lifts in snatch.

It’s the kind of thing that ends careers. Not for Chanu.

“We have spoken so many times about that day in the Rio Olympics in these five years,” said coach Sharma. “Every time I would tell her that she is now a different athlete. It is that incident that has brought us where we are today.”

In Tokyo, if she was still haunted by those memories of Rio, she did not show it. From the moment her event started, Chanu’s body language was confident and relaxed. On her ears she wore gold earrings in the shape of the Olympic logo, gifted to her by her mother after her Rio experience.

For her first attempt — 84kg in snatch — she stepped to the stage and bowed to the bar. Then, in one clean motion, Chanu had cleared the lift. She flashed her big smile. She was in control. She was ready to script her extraordinary tale of redemption.

For her next lift, she cleared 87kg with comfort. She beamed. Only Zhihui, who also holds the world record for snatch, was lifting more. Chanu could not finish her last snatch, where she attempted 89, more than she had ever done. It didn’t matter much, because next up was clean & jerk, which Chanu has made her own.

She cleared 110kg on her first attempt with such consummate ease that it looked like she was in training. By the time she was going for her second lift, set at 115kg, the entire field except Zhihui had already fallen away.

In the end, the 7kg difference between Chanu’s best snatch (87kg) and Zhihui’s best (94kg) decided the medal.

“The amount of discipline and commitment she has shown is extraordinary. You see how mentally strong she was today. That comes only with great hard work,” Sharma said.

“During these rough times of the pandemic, when lives have come to an abrupt halt and mere survival has become an isolating task, victories such as yours will serve as a small reminder of the joy that hope and perseverance can bring,” read a letter addressed to Chanu by Abhinav Bindra, India’s only Olympic gold medallist, who posted it on Twitter.

From Rio to the silver in Tokyo was a journey that involved meticulous training, a psychologist, fixing a bad back and realigning her posture with the help of Aaron Horschig, a former weightlifter who is now a renowned physical therapist and strength coach in the US, winning the world championship in 2017, gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games a bronze at the 2020 Asian Championships and becoming the world No 1.

In a way, a medal in Tokyo was always within her strong grasp. But when it came—on a day when India were contenders in three other medal events but did not win in any of them—Chanu’s joy was infectious and may just be what the young Indian contingent needs as inspiration.

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