Mirabai Chanu came within touching distance of a second successive Olympic medal and fell short by a minute margin to finish fourth in the women’s 49kg weightlifting. It completed a dreadful day for India after Vinesh Phogat’s disqualification from women’s wrestling. In Paris 2024 so far, Chanu is the sixth Indian individual/pair to end up in the position every athlete hates.
This was particularly bad because the silver medal winner from Tokyo had finished third in the snatch division and she was in contention for a podium finish until almost the end in clean-and-jerk. China’s Hou Zhihui lifted 117kg with the last lift of the competition, created an Olympic record and snatched gold from Romania’s Mihaela Cambei. Thailand’s Surodchana Khambao took bronze.
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What will hurt Chanu is the minimal gap between her and the third-placed Thai. In the end, the Indian’s total was 199kg, while Khambao finished with 200kg. Hou (206kg) and Cambei (205kg) were always ahead of the competition and it was a shootout for gold between these two, where the Chinese showed immense mental strength in the end.
The last lifter to take the stage in the clean-and-jerk section, Chanu started with an unsuccessful attempt at 111kg, but lifted the same weight in her very next attempt. This made her joint-second for a brief period, with the other medal contenders having just one or two lifts remaining. Khambao, who was tied with Chanu after the snatch section with 88kg, overtook her by lifting 112 in her second attempt. She failed to clear 114kg with her last lift. Chanu went for the same weight on her last try and failed. Her feat was sealed then and there.
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A world champion in 2017 and only the second Indian to clinch an Olympic weightlifting medal after Karnam Malleswari, Chanu was one of India’s brightest prospects in Paris. A lot of people had tipped her to claim silver or bronze. And for a long time on this eventful day in the French capital, the pocket dynamite from Manipur appeared to be on course. But it was not to be.
Three years ago, she had set a world record of 119kg in the clean-and-jerk. A few months later, while claiming silver in Tokyo, she set an OIympic record in the lift that is her stronger suit. But this time, with a medal up for grabs, she couldn’t go past 111kg.
This is a big setback for the Indian contingent already rattled by the ouster of Vinesh, who had reached the final in women’s 50kg category. After three fourth-place finishes in shooting, one in archery and another in badminton, Chanu becomes the latest addition to the list of so-near-yet-so-far stories. This will hurt India in what is turning out to be a disappointing campaign.
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