Vijay Sharma: Tokyo 2020 silver medallist Mirabai Chanu hasn’t eaten much for two days!
The weightlifting coach of India reveals the struggle Chanu endured on her way to an Olympic silver
Mirabai Chanu’s name has been etched into the annals of Indian sporting history as she won a silver medal in the 49 kg category in weightlifting at Tokyo 2020.
The Indian weightlifter lifted 202kg, 87 kg in snatch and managed 115kg in clean and jerk, to finish second on the podium behind China’s Hou Zhihui.
India's national weightlifting coach Vijay Sharma, who won the Dronacharya award for coaching in 2018, stated that Mirabai’s dedication to the sport is second to none, something which sets her apart from other athletes. He also went on to claim that Mirabai hasn’t had much food in the last two days in the build-up to her event in order to ensure that she is within the weight category.
“I started working with Mirabai in 2014. Her discipline, determination stood out,” said the coach in a media interaction after Chanu's ground-breaking feat.
“She hasn't eaten much for two days, now she can eat whatever she wants,” he mentioned.
It must be noted that Mirabai couldn’t complete her event at Rio 2016 as she failed to lift the weight in clean and jerk in all her three attempts. Mirabai, at one point, considered moving away from the sport and take a sabbatical.
Sharma pointed that after the Rio 2016 heartbreak, they altered her training programme and saw positive results which were visible, most notably at the 2018 Commonwealth Games where she won gold medal in the 48kg category.
“There was some pressure on me after Rio because we failed at an important competition. We changed training and technique and lot. We started seeing the results in 2017 (World Championship gold medal in 49kg) itself and the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
“That setback (Rio 2016) was a lesson. Mirabai completed trusted me. Mirabai hasn’t done anything apart from sleeping, eating and training for five years. The result of that journey is this medal,” he said.