Mirabai Chanu - Indian weightlifting’s serial winner

Over the past decade, Mirabai Chanu has taken Indian weightlifting to new heights.

Already a world champion and an Olympic medallist, Mirabai Chanu has made her country proud with staggering consistency and the Manipuri powerhouse can be considered a serial winner in the truest sense.

Where is Mirabai Chanu from?

Mirabai Chanu was born on August 8, 1994, in the village of Nongpok Kakching, about 20 kilometres from the city of Imphal - the state capital of Manipur.

Youngest among six siblings, Mirabai Chanu came from a poor family. Her father Saikhom Kriti Meitei was a construction worker in the state Public Works Department (PWD) while her mother Saikhom Tombi Devi ran a small tea shop.

With very limited resources, Mirabai Chanu and her siblings used to collect firewood from nearby forests to reduce the family’s fuel costs. It was during one such firewood picking trip that Mirabai Chanu’s talents for weightlifting became obvious.

Only 12 years old at the time, Mirabai accompanied her brother Saikhom Sanatomba Meitei, 16, to the forests near her village to scavenge for firewood. The brother-sister duo found quite a pile on the day.

When it came to lifting the bundle, though, teenager Sanatomba struggled to lift the heavy stack. But to her brother’s surprise, Mirabai easily hoisted the bundle, put it over her head and walked 2kms through hilly terrain to reach home.

Though Sanatomba was convinced about his sister’s penchant for weightlifting, Mirabai Chanu preferred archery.

“All my brothers and cousins play football but they would come back home dirty after a day's play. I wanted to play a sport which is neat and clean. At first, I wanted to be an archer as they are neat and clean and stylish,” Mirabai Chanu explained.

In her quest to become an archer, Mirabai Chanu visited the Sports Authority of India (SAI) Centre at the Khuman Lampak Stadium in Imphal with her cousin.

However, there was no archery practice there on the day and instead she chanced upon a few weightlifters in action. Drawn by the intensity of the sport, Mirabai Chanu decided to look into weightlifting.

Getting to know about Kunjarani Devi, another Manipuri who defied all odds to win India seven world championship medals and a Commonwealth Games gold in 2002, only fueled her passion for the sport.

With no infrastructure for the sport in her village, Mirabai Chanu had to travel around 40kms everyday to go and train under her first coach Anita Chanu, a former weightlifter who represented India at the Beijing Asian Games in 1990.

Mirabai used to ride on buses and hitchhike on trucks everyday to get to training.

Initially, she used bamboo trunks as barbells to hone her technique and after six months switched to conventional weights.

Two years later, she made it to the national camp and went on to clinch gold at the state level in the sub-junior category, and then followed it up with her first national medal in the junior category in 2011.

Mirabai Chanu’s medals and records

Soon after, Mirabai Chanu earned her national team call-up and eventually came under the guidance of her idol, Kunjarani Devi. Her first taste of international success was the gold medal at the 2013 Commonwealth Championships at Penang.

Mirabai Chanu then represented India at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, and shot to fame immediately after winning the silver medal in the women's 48kg category.

Though the then 20-year-old Mirabai Chanu returned empty-handed from the Incheon 2014 Asian Games, she produced a strong showing to qualify for the Rio 2016 Olympics.

Expectations were high from the Manipuri at Rio, but Mirabai Chanu’s debut Olympics was tough. The Manipuri was unable to log any successful clean and jerk attempts and failed to rank.

The heartbreak at Rio 2016 was followed by one of the most difficult phases of Mirabai Chanu’s sporting career. She received immense criticism from sections of the media back home for her failure at Rio.

“After I failed in the Rio Olympics I was completely broken. I had aspirations of winning a medal, but I was not able to do so. So, I kept thinking 'after working so hard why did I fail',” Mirabai Chanu admits.

However, the Rio failure proved to be the fire which ignited one of the most memorable comeback stories in Indian sports.

At the 2017 World Weightlifting Championships in Anaheim, USA, Mirabai Chanu used the event as her stage for redemption. Mirabai Chanu lifted a personal best of 194kg (85kg in snatch and 109kg in clean and jerk), also a championship record in the women’s 48kg category, to win the gold medal at the world championships.

It was India’s first gold at the global showpiece since Karnam Malleswari in 1995.

The world title not only helped her prove her critics wrong but also made Mirabai Chanu a sporting sensation back home. Her achievement was duly recognised as the Indian government bestowed her with the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, the highest sporting honour in the country, and the Padma Shri, the fourth-highest civilian award.

In 2018, Mirabai Chanu struck gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, winning the 48kg category.

Despite narrowly missing out on a medal at the 2019 world championships in Thailand, the Manipuri lifter created history at the Asian Weightlifting Championships 2020 held in Ningbo, China.

While her total of 205kg, her current personal best and the national record, only brought her the bronze overall in the 49kg category at the continental meet, Mirabai Chanu’s best lift of 119kg in the clean and jerk saw her emerge as the new world record holder in the section.

She broke the previous record of 118kg held by China’s Jiang Huihua, a two-time world champion. Huihua, however, reclaimed the mark with a 120kg effort at the 2023 world championships. The record was later improved to 125kg by Ri Song Gum.

By the time the Tokyo 2020 Olympics rolled in, Mirabai Chanu had unfinished business to address.

Determined to put her Rio heartbreak behind her, Mirabai Chanu won the silver medal in the women’s 49kg in Japan as her total of 202kg (87kg+115kg) fell only short to China’s Hou Zhihui, who set a new Olympic record at the event, lifting 210kg (94kg+116kg).

It was India’s first-ever silver medal in weightlifting at the Olympics. Only Karnam Malleswari, bronze in women’s 69kg at Sydney 2000, had medalled for India before in the sport at the Summer Games.

For Mirabai Chanu, personally, it was a huge burden off her shoulders.

“I have been dreaming of this moment for the past five years. I tried hard to win the gold but sadly couldn’t. But I am happy to win a medal for my country” Mirabai Chanu said after securing her medal at Tokyo.

Already eyeing an upgrade to her medal colour at Paris 2024, Mirabai Chanu has started working towards her next goal and a big statement of her intent came at the Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham, where she successfully defended her crown and in some style.

The Indian lifted 201kg (88kg+113kg), a new Games record, to dominate the women’s 49kg at Birmingham. Roilya Ranaivosoa of Mauritius bagged the silver with a combined lift of 172kg, 29kg less than Mirabai.

Mirabai Chanu secured her second world championships medal, this time a a silver, with a 200kg (87kg snatch + 113kg clean and jerk) effort at the World Weightlifting Championships 2022 held in Bogota, Colombia.

Despite battling an injury, Chanu was the only Indian lifter at the Paris 2024 Olympics. The Manipuri sensation narrowly missed out on a second medal, finishing fourth. Her total of 199kg was just 1kg off bronze medal winner Surodchana Khambao of Thailand.

Mirabai Chanu records

• Personal best and national record for total lift - 205kg (86kg+119kg)
• Personal best and national record for snatch - 88kg
• Personal best and national record for clean and jerk - 119kg
• First Indian weightlifter to win a silver medal at the Olympics - Tokyo 2020
• First Indian weightlifter to become world champion in 22 years - World Weightlifting Championships 2017