Happy Birthday Mirabai Chanu! A Look Back at the Historic Silver Medal in Weightlifting at Tokyo Olympics
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Mirabai Chanu at the Tokyo Olympics
Mirabai Chanu created history for India, as she became the first Indian weighlifter to win a silver medal, and only the second athlete ever to win a medal in this field. She also opened up India’s medal tally at the Tokyo Olympics, after winning the silver medal on the second day of the Tokyo Olympics.
Mirabai Chanu redeemed herself from her disaster at the Rio Olympics as she came back strong to clinch the silver medal in style. This is the first time India bagged a medal on the opening day of the Olympics.
Chanu lifted 84kg in her first snatch attempt with ease, and soon went on to better the weight, lifting a 87kg in her second attempt. She failed to lift her third attempt which was a weight of 89kg, but she was now on to her favourite of the two events, clean and jerk.
Mirabai Chanu holds the World Record in Clean and Jerk in Weightlifting
Mirabai Chanu hold the world record in the clean and jerk category when she lifted an impressive 119kg at the 2019 Asian Championships. Chanu had entered the Tokyo Olympics with a starting weight of 210kg, ahead of all his competitors.
Chanu successfully lifted 115kgs after a valiant attempt in her second attempt to secure her place behind China’s Zhihui who set the Olympic record with a 116kg clean and jerk lift. It was victory for Chanu as she clinched the silver medal in the women’s 48kg weightlifting category.
Apart from the elusive Olympics medal, Chanu is also the bronze medallist from the 2020 Asian Championships and the gold medallist from the 2017 World Championships. She also took gold in the 2018 Commonwealth Games and has been awarded the Padma Shri and Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award.
Also read: Tokyo Olympics 2020: A look at India’s top performers at the Summer Games
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Saivee Phatak
(1164 Articles Published)