At Paris 2024, Saikhom Mirabai Chanu is ready to defy the odds once again

A tattoo of the Olympic rings on her left arm was one of the first things Saikhom Mirabai Chanu got after winning a record-making weightlifting silver medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics . Will she follow it up with another tattoo if she wins a medal at the Paris Olympics as well? Mirabai isn’t sure.

She’s extremely excited to go to Paris though, a city where she has never competed.

“I am so excited to go to Paris. Our weightlifting championship has never taken place there,” the jovial Manipuri said during a media interaction.

The charm and history of one of the most popular cities in the world have their own attraction, but words can be deceptive and so can looks. With her wide smile, warm nature, and diminutive figure, the 29-year-old doesn’t come across as someone who is driven solely by the goal of winning a medal for her country. But that’s exactly what Mirabai is.

The 2019 World Championship gold medallist and 2022 edition silver medal winner, Mirabai, won India’s first silver medal in weightlifting at Tokyo 2020 with a combined lift of 202kg (87kg snatch; 115kg clean and jerk) in the women’s 49kg event.

Even her desire to travel to Paris was quickly followed by her ambitions that are deeply entrenched in her mind.

“I am excited, nervous, and there’s also tension, but I guess that happens to all athletes. In these last three years, I have faced a lot of problems, and there’s going to be a fresh batch of fierce opponents. There’s pressure about what I will do on that day. Will I win a medal for India? My belief is in giving the best performance, and then I should be able to win a medal,” she added.

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The last three years have been some of the toughest of her life.

Since that win in Tokyo, the lifter has been struggling with injuries. Two years back, she injured her wrist during training and battled through pain to bag a silver at the 2022 World Championships.

The biggest setback came at the Hangzhou Asian Games last year when, during a clean and jerk attempt, her hip gave out, causing her to fall and injure her thigh . She had to be eventually carried off the stage.

After a six-month injury layoff , Chanu returned to action at the Phuket World Cup in April earlier this year, where she fought off fears and doubts to book a ticket to Paris with a combined lift of 184 kg (81kg snatch; 103kg clean and jerk).

But with just a few days left until the Paris Games, Mirabai is still not training at 100 percent, even though she has “100 percent” recovered from injuries.

“The injury is fine, I have completely recovered from it, but I am going slow in training. Right now, I am lifting 80-85 percent in repetitions; I am not lifting 100 percent until the Olympics," she said in a media interaction arranged by the Sports Authority of India, the Indian Olympic Association, and the Indian Weightlifting Federation.

Mirabai Chanu is a winner of India’s highest sporting award – the Khel Ratna. PTI

Considering the physical troubles she has faced in the last two years, giving her all only at the Olympics seems like the best bet.

“88kg in snatch and 119kg in clean and jerk are my best, but my target is 90kg plus in snatch in Paris, and I will try my best,” Chanu added.

“Right now, I am going gradually and lifting 70-80kgs in training, but my target is 90kg plus and a better clean and jerk lift. I can’t set a specific target. I will do what it takes and try to give my best performance to win a medal, but I can’t predict the colour of the medal.”

At the Olympics, however, Mirabai won’t just have to overcome physical barriers; there are mental battles to be fought as well. Even the best can start doubting themselves if things don’t go as planned, and in Chanu’s case, she has had a lot of time to think about the future when her present was compromised.

“It’s always difficult to deal with an injury, and there are questions about how long it will take to recover. Especially when you get injured before the Olympics, there are many questions and a lot of tension. But I believe in myself and I will never give up.”

A veteran now, Chanu, who has already reached France to acclimatise to the conditions, will rely on her tried and tested methods to ensure she performs her best at the Olympics.

“I am just being the person I was before. My training remains the same. In the 49kg category, there will be intense competition, so I need to study my opponents. My focus is to stay calm and train to the best of my ability. My goal is to deliver a medal-winning performance. The process is to maintain composure and train optimally.”

Will she be able to give her best?

There couldn’t be a better time to reflect on the challenges she overcame to win silver in Tokyo.

On her Olympic debut in Rio, Mirabai failed to register a single valid lift in the clean and jerk. She redeemed herself the very next year by becoming only the second Indian weightlifter, after Karnam Malleswari, to win gold at the World Weightlifting Championships before achieving bigger success in Tokyo.

If she can do it then, there’s nothing to suggest she can’t do it again.

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