Mary KOM

India

Boxing

Olympic Medals

Games Participations2

First Olympic GamesLondon 2012

Year of Birth1983

Social Media

Biography

An Olympic medallist and six-time world champion, Mary Kom is an unrefuted boxing legend.

Born into a poor farming family in Manipur, Mangte Chungneijang ‘Mary’ Kom was a gifted athlete from childhood. However, she decided to switch to boxing inspired by fellow Manipuri Dingko Singh’s gold medal win at the 1998 Asian Games held in Bangkok.

Her ambition to become a successful boxer saw Mary leave home at the age of 15 to train at the Imphal Sports Academy.

She also had to keep her boxing training a secret from her father Mangte Tonpa Kom, an ex-wrestler, who was initially not too keen on her daughter pursuing a combat sport.

Tonpa would come to know about Mary’s secret once her photo was published in the newspapers after she became a state champion in 2000. Having gradually won her father over, MC Mary Kom would go on to conquer the world.

Competing as an 18-year-old at the inaugural World Boxing Championships in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Mary Kom won a silver - the first of her record eight medals at the world meet.

She is a six-time (2002, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2018) world champion - a record in women’s boxing - while her other podium finish, a bronze, came in 2019.

Mary Kom’s maiden world title came in 2002, making her the first Indian boxer to win gold at the global meet.

The crowning achievement of Mary Kom’s illustrious career, however, came at the London 2012 Olympics.

With the edition seeing women’s boxing make its debut at the Summer Games, Mary Kom, who was the only Indian female boxer at the competition, made history by winning a bronze medal in the women’s flyweight division.

Having been forced to jump weight categories to be eligible to compete at the Games, Mary Kom defied the odds to beat Karolina Michalczuk of Poland, a physically imposing opponent, in her first bout before recovering from a troubled start to overcome Tunisia’s Maroua Rahali in the quarter-finals.

Though Mary Kom fell short against home favourite Nicola Adams, the eventual gold medallist, in the semis, she had already secured a podium as both losing semi-finalists are awarded bronze in Olympic boxing.

It was India’s second boxing medal at the Olympics after Vijender Singh’s bronze at Beijing 2008.

Also, only two Indian women - weightlifter Karnam Malleswari at Sydney 2000 and badminton player Saina Nehwal, also at London 2012, had stood on an Olympic podium before her.

Mary Kom missed the boat to Rio 2016 but managed to qualify for Tokyo 2020, which was her final appearance at the Summer Games.

In addition to her many successes at the world championships and her Olympic glory, Mary Kom also holds the distinction of being the first Indian woman to win a gold medal at the Asian Games (in 2014) and at the Commonwealth Games (2018).

She is also a five-time Asian champion.

Interestingly, a bulk of Mary Kom’s successes in the ring transpired after she became a mother, justifying her as one of sports’ ultimate supermoms. The Indian boxer gave birth to twins in 2007 before giving birth to her third child in 2013.

A former world No. 1, Mary Kom has been honoured with the Padma Vibhushan and Padma Bhushan, which are the second and third-most prestigious civilian awards, respectively, in India. Only the Bharat Ratna is held in a higher stead.

She has also received the Khel Ratna - the highest honour in India for any sportsperson.

Mary Kom, who runs a sports club in her native state of Manipur to train youngsters to box for free, also became a member of the Indian Upper House of Parliament, the Rajya Sabha, in 2016.