Mirabai Chanu, Saikhom
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Contents |
A brief biography
The journey
Hindol Basu, July 25, 2021: The Times of India
This story goes 14 years back in time, when Mirabai Chanu was a 12-year-old living in the village of Nongpok Kakching, about 20 kilometres from the city of Imphal in Manipur. The area Mirabai’s family lived was surrounded by hillocks.
Born in a poor family, Mirabai was the youngest of six siblings. Her father Saikhom Kriti Meitei was a construction worker in the state public works department in Imphal, while her mother Saikhom Tombi Devi ran a small tea-snack shop in the village. Her father’s salary was just about enough for hand-tomouth existence.
She often accompanied her brothers to the nearby jungle to collect firewood. On one such trip, Mirabai went deep into the hills with her brother Saikhom Sanatomba Meitei, who was 16 at that time. The brother-sister duo collected a bundle of firewood, and Sanatomba tried to lift the bunch on his head. But he wasn’t able to.
“To my utter surprise, Mira easily lifted the bundle of firewood on her head. She then walked back to our home that was some two kilometres away with the stack,” said Sanatomba. Even when she was just five years old, Mirabai could carry bucket full of water on her head, all while negotiating the steep inclines of the hilly region. “There was a lot of financial crisis and my parents could hardly support her. Whatever she has done, it’s on her own,” said Sanatomba.
When she was 12, Mirabai visited the Sports Authority of India (SAI) centre in Imphal at the Khuman Lampak Stadium. She was on the lookout for some archery training but couldn’t find any. Incidentally, she saw some clips of a female weightlifter from Manipur, Kunjarani Devi, who was a seven-time silver medallist at the World Champioships and won gold at the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games. Mirabai was inspired. Without any weightlifting infrastructure nearby, Mirabai eventually found herself under the tutelage of coach Anita Chanu. She would travel around 40km over hilly terrain daily for her training.
“The biggest problem for us was sending her alone to Imphal for training, but Mira insisted. She was ready to cover 40km daily. At times, she would hitch a ride on a truck or if she got lucky, share a tuk-tuk. Some days she would cycle and some days she would come half the way and then walk back home,” mother Tombi Devi said. At the centre, Mirabai first used bamboo trunks as barbells to hone her technique and after six months switched to conventional tools.
Two years later, she made it to the national camp. A tenacious Mirabai went on to win titles at the state level in the sub-junior category and then clinched her first national medal in the junior category in 2011.
Soon after, she earned her national team call-up and ultimately came under the guidance of her idol Kunjarani Devi. Then came her first taste of the international stage at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, where she won a silver and announced herself to the world. There was no looking back.
US physio’s role in resurrection of Mirabai
Prasad RS, July 25, 2021: The Times of India
As Mirabai Chanu was in the midst of opening India’s medal account with a silver at the Tokyo Games, Dr Aaron Horschig — renowned strength and conditioning coach who has been working with the champion weightlifter in the lead up to the Games — was watching all the action from his home in St Louis, United States. “It was well past midnight here but Mirabai was just fantastic. It was extremely satisfying to see her perform the way she did,” Aaron told TOI.
In November last year, Mirabai and her coach Vijay Sharma decided to visit Aaron as the Manipur lifter was finding it difficult to train at home. After being confined to her room in NIS Patiala for almost two months during the first Covid-19 lockdown, Mirabai found it tough to resume her training regime. She suffered from back pain and also had tightness in her shoulders. The move to work with Aaron — a national-level weightlifterturned physiotherapist — proved to be a masterstroke for Mirabai. Aaron has trained many players who are currently part of America’s National Football League (NFL), Major League Baseball (MLB) among others.
Aaron didn’t take long to figure out the pain points. “The right shoulder was painful during the turnover phase of the snatch. Upon examination I found her issue to be associated with a problem in shoulder blade positioning and failure to upwardly rotate optimally. Her shoulder blade was unable to provide sufficient stability for the arm and that led to pain. After addressing this issue, we were able to see massive changes in pain free capacity and stability under the barbell,” Aaron assessed.
To top that, Chanu’s lower back was affected each time she squatted. “With proper evaluation, we uncovered that her source of pain was a hip mobility restriction which hindered optimal glute muscle activation. This resulted in over reliance on other tissues in the hip and the development of pain,” said the 34-year-old. With specific exercises tailored to address these problems, Aaron helped Mirabai eliminate pain and perform a strong quality squat.
Once the issues were sorted, Mirabai was able to perform at her best. “There was a time when she couldn’t train for successive days. By the time she left for Tokyo, we were having a couple of sessions each day,” said Aaron.
Ahead of her event, Aaron was in constant touch with Mirabai and her team. “The efforts made by her coach Vijay and the rest of the team is commendable. I have trained quite a few athletes before but Mirabai has to be the most dedicated and disciplined one. The silver medal is the result of her perseverance and never-say-die attitude,” mentioned Aaron.
2021
Historic Olympic silver
Sabi Hussain, July 25, 2021: The Times of India
Mirabai Chanu halted all of India in its tracks on Saturday morning. In Tokyo, which is three and a half hours ahead, [this lady] from Manipur gave a beleaguered nation a strange sense of relief with an unforgettable, opening-day Olympic silver medal.
All this in the 49kg women’s weightlifting contest.
Each time Mirabai gripped the barbell with clear intent, the weight at either end would have increased by a couple of counts more: 110kg, 115kg, maybe even a record-breaking 117kg! That was not the only weight that Mirabai was lifting. Each time, with every round, as she approached the imposing apparatus before her, the burden of a nation’s expectation would increase.
Mirabai simply smiled and shrugged it off, her upside-down golden ‘Olympic ring’ earrings glinting proudly. Mirabai confirmed silver with a total lift of 202 kg (87+ 115kg).
Her Chinese opponent, a deadpan Ho Jhihui, lifted 94kg in Snatch and 116kg in clean and jerk, as if she was lifting shopping bags, for gold. It would be a short, fun contest as the Indian would seek to raise the bar after Jhijui managed an Olympic record with her 116kg final lift.
It would never show but this was Mirabai’s final chance to redeem her past and erase the painful memories of Rio 2016. In doing so, she ended the country’s 21-year-old women’s weightlifting medal drought in the women’s 49kg category. Somewhere, watching, a usually sombre Karnam Malleswari must have herself allowed a satisfied smile. After all, Mirabai was only following what Malleswari had first begun in Sydney 2000, becoming the first Indian woman to win an Olympic medal, that too in women’s weightlifting.
“The entire country was watching me and they had their expectations. I was a little nervous but I was determined to give my best. I worked really hard for this,” Mirabai said. “I like to thank my family, especially my mother for a lot of sacrifices and believing in me. I would like to give special thanks to my coach Vijay Sharma sir and support staff for their continuous hard work, motivation and training.”
Mirabai’s journey had begun long before she reached Tokyo, having spent much of 2021 training and rehabilitating from her shoulder injury in St. Louis, USA. In between, in April, she scorched the Asian championships in Tashkent with a personal best lift of 205kg, rewriting the world record in the clean and jerk segment with a lift of 119kg.
On Saturday, Mirabai would come up short in her last attempts in both snatch and clean and jerk. In snatch, she went for an audacious lift of 89kg but couldn’t control the barbell. Had she done so, she would have surpassed her personal best of 88kg.
Similarly, in clean and jerk, she willed herself to lift 117 kg in her third and final attempt, but the 26-year-old lost her balance while going for the upright position. As she withdrew from her lift, Mirabai could be seen in discomfort, clutching her back as if she had sprained it. That’s when the family came in. She was examined by the coaching staff but was soon seen indulging in a couple of selfies and video calls with her family and friends, who were cheering back in her Imphal village of Nongpok Kakching.
Dope tests
2014-17: 30 tests; Mirabai failed none
Newly-crowned world champion, Saikhom Mirabai Chanu, finds herself in the crosshairs of International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) and National Anti-Doping Agency (Nada). The diminutive Manipuri lifter, who recently won the gold medal in California in 48kg category, has surprisingly been subjected to dope testing four times within a span of justone month.
This is probably the first time that an Indian athlete has been targetted thus. Mirabai, who ended India’s 22-year drought at the Worlds with her gold, has been subjected to back-to-backdope testing by ‘Dope ControlOfficers’ (DCOs) of Nada ever sinceshe returned home from Anaheim, California.
Mirabai’s blood and urine samples (out-ofcompetition) were first collected by DCOs the moment she reached the national camp in Patiala last Sunday. The very next day, on Monday, when Mirabai reachedKapurthala to participatein theInter-Railways competition, the same team of DCOs collected her urine sample during an in-competition testing, leaving the23-year-old perplexed as to what wrong she has done that Nada’s team was chasing her like this.
These two sample collections came soon after Mirabai’s blood and urine samples were collected twice – on two separate occasions – by the IWF, first on November 12 in Las Vegas where the Indian team had stationeditself for a preparatory camp ahead of the World Championships, and then on November 28 when the reigning Commonwealthchampion won thehistoric goldfor thecountry.
“As far as my memory goes, it has never happened in the history of Indian sports that an athlete has been subjected to back-to-back dope testing within 24 hours. It’s akin to putting an athlete under the cloud of suspicion. Within a month, she has been dope tested four times. Thisistotally unacceptable.
“The rule book says an athlete can be dope tested by DCOs as many times as they want, but collecting sampleswithin a span of 24 hours? I have never come across anything like this. Mirabai’s morale and confidence is down due to these frequent dope testing,” Indian Weightlifting Federation secretary Sahdev Yadav told TOI.
Yadav had another piece of shocking information to share. “In the last three years, Mirabai has been dope tested at least 30 times by the IWF and Nada under the suspicion that sheistaking performance enhancing drugs. We all know the truth that she has never failed a dope test.”
Milestones
Till 2021 July
Mirabai THE CHANU DOSSIER
Clinched gold medal at the 2017 World Weightlifting Championships, her biggest achievement till date
Only second Indian to win a gold medal at World Weightlifting Championships after Karnam Malleswari in 1994 and 1995
World record holder in clean & jerk (119kg) in the 49kg weight category, which she set at the 2021 Asian Weightlifting Championships
YEAR-WISE DEVELOPMENTS
2017
Gold at Weightlifting Championships
November 30, 2017: The Times of India
HIGHLIGHTS
Chanu became only the second Indian weightlifter to win gold at the World Weightlifting Championships
Karnam Malleswari did it back in 1995
Saikhom Mirabai Chanu has lifted a new world record of 194kg - 85kg snatch and 109kg clean-and-jerk - to lift gold at the World Weightlifting Championships, becoming only the second Indian weightlifter after Karnam Malleswari to achieve that feat.
Thailand's Sukcharoen Thunya won the silver medal with a total lift of 193, while Segura Ana Iris bagged bronze with 182kg.
World Championships weightlifting competition
Girl From Manipur Emulates Malleswari In World Championship
Mirabai Chanu, who missedher elder sister Shaya’s wedding on November 22, gave a special gift to her sibling. The iron lady from Manipur ended India’s 22-year drought with a gold medal in World Championships weightlifting competition in Anaheim, California.
The 23-year-old had a total lift of 194kg (snatch 85kg and 109kg in clean and jerk) toemerge triumphant in the 48kg category and became only the second Indian after Karnam Malleswari to achieve thisfeat. Mirabai alsobettered her personal best by 2kg.
“This gold is the best wedding gift I could have given to my elder sister Shaya. I missed her wedding on November 22 in Manipur because of this World Championships. I had come to California on November 12 to get battle ready as I wanted to erase the bad memories of my disappointing Rio Olympics campaign (where Mirabai had missed all three attempts in clean and jerk).
“Everyone back home was upset with my decision to miss mysister’s wedding. I can understand their anger. But I had told my parents that I would return home victorious and gift gold to mylovely sister. I kept the promise which I had made to myself. My mother just called up to say we are proud of your achievement and thewhole village iswaiting for your felicitation.” Mirabai told TOI from Anaheim.
The Indian pipped favourite Sukcharoen Thunya of Thailand by 1kg toclinch gold. The Thai girl had a total of 193kg, while Colombian Segura Ana Iris bagged bronze with a total of 182kg.
It was Mirabai’s second title in quick succession after her gold at the Commonwealth Senior Weightlifting Championships in Australia in September, which ensured her a berth in the Commonwealth Games.
Mirabai emulated Malleswari, who won gold in 1994 and 1995. The Sydney Olympics bronze medallist, who is the now a government observer, was delighted with Mirabai's achievement.
The Andhra girl, who took Indian weightlifting to new heights in the90s, toldTOIthat shehad expected Mirabai to win a medal at theRioOlympics as well. “I am extremely delighted by her feat. She is a very talented lifter. In fact, we were confident she would get us a medal at Rio last year. Her gold now will motivate many more lifters to believe that they can also do well at international level,” said Malleswari.
Unfortunately for India, Mirabai was one of the two lifters who failed to complete her lift in Rio. “We realised that she became very nervous in Rio. But now this gold at the Worlds will do a world of good to her confidence,” Malleswari said and added that three girls — Mirabai, Sanjitha Chanu and Matsa Santhosi — are bright prospects for India.
“We have high hopes from these three girls. They are in the right age group (23 years) and will win more medals for India in future,” Malleswari said.
Asked why the Indian weightlifters have failed to deliver in the last two decades, Malleswari said: “We’ve always had talented lifters in the country. But in my opinion, the combinations were not good. A good coach did not get a lifter to train or a talented lifter did not get the opportunity to train with a good coach. We are working to set things right and weightlifting will hopefully bring more medalsfor India soon.”
2018
Commonwealth Games
April 5, 2018: The Times of India
HIGHLIGHTS
India’s first gold medal of the opening day of 2018 CWG came from world champion and CWG record holder Saikhom Mirabai Chanu
Chanu broke six records in six lifts to finish first in the women’s 48 kg with a combined effort of 196kg
This is Saikhom’s second CWG medal following the silver she won in Glasgow four years ago
India’s first gold medal of the opening day of the 2018 Commonwealth Games has come in stunning fashion from world champion and CWG record holder Saikhom Mirabai Chanu, who broke six records in six lifts to finish first in the women’s 48 kg with a combined effort of 196kg to smash her previous career best of 194kg.
This is Saikhom’s second CWG medal following the silver she won in Glasgow four years ago, and was highlighted by a CWG and personal best lift of 86kg in the snatch category - all in the span of six minutes - and 110kg in the clean & jerk.
Her achievements went well past the CWG record of 175kg set by Nigeria’s Augustina Nwaokolo in Delhi in 2010.
Saikhom, who in February was crowned Weightlifter of the Year award at the Mahindra Scorpio Times of India Awards (TOISA) for her gold medal winning lift at last year’s World Weightlifting Championships, began with a CWG record lift of 81kg and then improved that to 84kg and finally 86kg, which surpassed her personal best of 85kg that had been recorded at last year’s World Championships.
This put Saikhom 10kgs ahead of the next competitor and saw her advance to the clean & jerk at first place. In this category, where at 103 her entry weight was considerably higher than others, Saikhom recorded lifts of 103, 107 and 110 to clear the competition by a long margin. Marie Ranaivosoa of Mauritius claimed silver with a total lift of 170kg (76 in snatch and 94 in clean & jerk) and bronze went to Sri Lanka’s Dinusha Gomes with a total lift of 155 (70 in snatch, 85 in clean & jerk).
Saikhom’s amazing performance came hours after fellow weightlifter Gururaja opened India’s account at the Gold Coast Games with a silver in the men’s 56kg event.
The 23-year-old Indian lifter - who works as a senior ticket checker with the Indian Railways - had qualified for the CWG with a national record lift of 194kg that won her gold at the World Weightlifting Championships, becoming just the second Indian since Karnaman Malleswari 22 years ago to do so.
Born in Imphal East, Manipur, Saikhom took up weightlifting in 2007 after being inspired by another pioneer of Indian weightlifting, Kunjarani Devi. It did not take much time for the young girl to make heads turn as she won gold in junior levels at the South Asian Junior Games and the 2011 International Youth Championship.
Her first major success at the international level came at the 2014 CWG, when she finished behind her team-mate Sanjita Chanu to take home a silver medal. This was followed by gold at the 2016 South Asian Games and the 2017 Commonwealth Championship.
Saikhom has widely been hailed as the successor to India’s first individual woman medalist at the Olympic Games, Malleshwari. This sensational record-setting performance at Gold Coast has enchanted her reputation multifold.
2016-Jun 2021
Sabi Hussain, July 24, 2021: The Times of India
From: Sabi Hussain, July 24, 2021: The Times of India
“D.N.F.” At Rio de Janeiro five years ago, alongside Mirabai Chanu’s name in the final scoresheet of the women’s 48kg weightlifting competition, read the words, “Did Not Finish”. Actually, it wasn’t as abrupt as that. Placed sixth in the final after completing her snatch assignment, the diminutive Mirabai simply needed to dig deep and rally. One legitimate lift within her favoured range in the preferred clean and jerk section and she could have finished on the podium.
But that’s also when it all unravelled. Mirabai failed to record a single lift in her three attempts to crash out of the competition. Five of her six lifts were ruled invalid.
Those images – a miserable Mirabai, teary eyes hidden behind her hands, chief national coach Vijay Sharma trying to console her but to no avail -- are still vivid in memory. And perhaps, on Saturday, when the Manipur lifter steps up at the Tokyo International Forum’s arena, those images will flash before her eyes. It could make her wilt, or that could also mean that Mirabai gets an opportunity to bury those ghosts set herself free from the painful memories of Rio. So which Mirabai will show up on Saturday?
Entering the arena as a World No. 2, a world record to her name, a world championship gold in the interim, Mirabai is expected to open India’s medal count in a slightly altered women’s 49kg category.
In a bold move, signalling her intent, on Friday, Mirabai entered the highest weight in the start list shared by the event officials in Tokyo. She declared to lift a sensational 210kg during her competition, ahead of all her nearest competitors – China’s Hou Zhihui, world No 1, in contrast, has opted for a safer, more conservative approach by offering to lift a maximum of 205kg.
Whether Mirabai’s aggressive tactics will serve her well remains to be seen. She will have to smartly plan her break-ups in both the clean and jerk and snatch. Given that there’s an exemption of 20kg than the maximum weight listed, she will have to attempt at least a 190kg lift in her first shot to set the tone for the rest of the competition.
But then, there has been a remarkable turnaround to the Mirabai approach since the Rio disappointment. A year after that DNF, there was a historic gold at the World Championships which she followed up with a Commonwealth Games gold in 2018. In clean and jerk, Mirabai now holds the world record with a 119kg lift recorded in Tashkent during the Asian Championships.
Last year’s Olympic postponement also helped Mirabai work on her recurring lower back and shoulder injury in the US. She is primed to finish on the podium in Tokyo but will have to watch out for her Chinese nemesis Hou Zhihui, USA’s Delacruz Jourdan Elizabeth, Indonesian Aisah Windy Cantika and Belgium’s Sterckx Nina. Like the China’s Zhihui, Cantika (203kg), Elizabeth (200kg) and Nina (199kg) have displayed a cautious approach in their startlist weights.
At the Asian championships in Tashkent in April, Zhihui had lifted a total of 213kg for gold – 96kg in snatch and 117kg in Clean and Jerk. In the same meet, where she won the bronze, Mirabai could manage 86kg in snatch but came up with a world-record lift of 119kg in clean and jerk for a total of 205kg, still eight short of Zhihui’s effort. Cantika and Elizabeth, too, are ahead of the Indian. Mirabai’s personal best in snatch is 88kg.
2019
Gold at EGAT Cup, Thailand
Golden comeback for Mirabai, February 8, 2019: The Times of India
World champion Indian weightlifter Saikhom Mirabai Chanu on Thursday notched up a gold medal at the EGAT Cup in Thailand, making a strong comeback from the lower back injury that kept her out of action for more than half of 2018.
According to the information received here, Chanu won the 49kg category gold with a effort of 192 kg in the silver level Olympic qualifying event, the points from which will come in handy when the final rankings for Tokyo 2020 cut are done. “This is my first international event after recovering from injury. I am feeling 100 per cent fit but since this is first one after injury, it is not the best result,” Chanu said from Chiang Mai city.
“But this is just four kg less than my personal best of 196kg. I am quite satisfied and happy with my performance. I had won World Championships in 2017 with 194kg,” she added.
The 24-year-old Manipuri lifted 82kg in snatch and 110kg in clean and jerk to finish on top of the podium after recovering from the injury, which required extensive physiotherapy and kept her out of action for nine months. Japan's Miyake Hiromi (183kg) claimed the silver, while the bronze went to Papua New Guinea's Loa Dika Toua (179kg). While Hiromi is the Rio Olympics bronze-medallist Dika Toua won the 53kg category silver medl in the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast.
Chanu had missed the world championships last year owing to the injury which had also forced her out of the Asian Games in Jakarta. “My next target is the Asian Championships in China, followed by the world championships, which is very crucial for me,” Chanu said.
2023
Asian Weightlifting Championships
May 6, 2023: The Times of India
New Delhi: World and Olympic silver medallist Mirabai Chanu could be headed for another long injury layoff after hurting her left hip joint during her underwhelming campaign at the Asian weightlifting championships in Jinju, South Korea, where she finished a disappointing sixth in the women’s 49kg category.
Mirabai finished with an overall lift of 194kg – 85kg in snatch and 109kg in clean & jerk to finish out of the medal bracket. It’s been learnt that Mirabai would need rehabilitation and she could be travelling back to former American weightlifter-turned-physiotherapist, Dr Aaron Horschig’s academy in St Louis for her recovery. , ruling the 28-year old out of competitions for months.
Mirabai would be required to participate in at least six competitions in the qualification cycle for the Paris Olympics 2024 – three Grand Prix meets and at the World Championships, Asian Championships and Asian Games – to earn the crucial ranking points.
Presently, she is placed second in the Olympics qualification rankings for Paris. In the past as well, Mirabai had been troubled by lower back and shoulder injuries, for which she had consulted Horschig. Participating in her first competition of the year, Mirabai was forced to withdraw from the Asian Championships after her first clean and jerk attempt.
