MIRABAI CHANU SAIKHOM
Saikhom Mirabai Chanu is an Indian weightlifter who was born on August 8, 1994. She took silver in the Women's 49 kg event at the 2020 Summer Olympics. Mirabai Chanu has won numerous World Championships and Commonwealth Games medals. The Indian government honoured her with the Padma Shri award for her services to sports. In 2018, the Government of India presented her with the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award.
Chanu had won silver in the women's 48 kg weight class at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, and then went on to win gold in the 2018 iteration of the event in Gold Coast, breaking the games record in the process. Her greatest success before to the 2020 Summer Olympics occurred in 2017, when she won the gold medal at the World Weightlifting Championships in Anaheim, California.
Early Life:
Saikhom Mirabai Chanu was born on August 8, 1994, to a Meitei family in Nongpok Kakching, Manipur, some 30 kilometres from Imphal. Her family saw her power when she was just 12 years old. When her elder brother struggled to take up a large load of firewood, she could easily bring it home.
Career:
Chanu's first significant achievement came at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, when she earned a silver medal in the 48 kg weight category.
In the women's 48 kg division, Chanu qualified for the 2016 Rio Olympics. She did not finish the event, however, due to no successful lifts in any of her three clean and jerk efforts. In 2017, she won the gold medal in the Women's 48 kg category at the 2017 World Weightlifting Championships in Anaheim, California, by lifting a total of 194 kg (85 kg snatch and 109 kg clean & jerk).
Chanu won the first gold medal for India at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, lifting a total of 196 kilogrammes, 86 kg in Snatch and 110 kg in Clean and Jerk. She broke the games record for the weight category on way to the medal, and it was also her personal best effort. With a total lift of 199 kg, her personal best, she lost out on a bronze medal in the 49 kg category at the 2019 Asian Weightlifting Championships because her Snatch weight was lower than the third-place athlete, both of whom had identical totals.
Mirabai finished fourth in the 2019 World Weightlifting Championships with a total lift of 201kg (87kg Snatch and 114kg Clean & Jerk). In the 49kg division, this personal best total also set a new national record. She beat her personal best four months later when she won the gold medal in the 49kg division at the 2020 Senior National Weightlifting Championships by lifting 203kg (88kg in Snatch and 115kg in Clean & Jerk).
She earned bronze at the 2020 Asian Weightlifting Championships in Tashkent in April 2021, lifting 86 kg in the snatch and then setting a world record by lifting 119 kg in the clean and jerk for a total of 205 kg. Chanu qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics as the first Indian woman weightlifter by placing second in the Absolute Rankings for the 49kg category in June 2021.
With a total lift of 202 kg, Chanu earned silver in the 49 kg class at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, becoming the first Indian weightlifter to win silver at the Olympics and the second Indian weightlifter to win an Olympic medal after Karnam Malleswari. Chanu set a new Olympic record in the clean and jerk with a lift of 115 kg. N. Biren Singh, the Chief Minister of Manipur, announced a one-crore prize for her. Ashwini Vaishnaw, the Indian Railway Minister, announced a 2 crore prize, a promotion, and other benefits for her.
National Awards:
1. Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, highest sporting Honour of India(2018)
2. Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian Award of India (2018)
After Winning the Silver Medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics:
- 50 lakh from the government of India
- 1 crore from the government of Manipur, and appointment as additional superintendent of police(sports) in the Manipur state police.
- 2 crore from the ministry of railway and promotion in the northeast frontier railway.
Comments