Mirabai Chanu will be competing in her third Olympics in Paris. This time, the media glare and arc lights will be on the diminutive weightlifter as she attempts to match or better her silver medal from Tokyo in the French capital on August 7.
For the pessimists, Mira, as people fondly call her, “is not in best shape.” Those are mostly people who have not followed her intense training schedule after recovery from injury, or seen how she is now loading weights in order to be at her best on the big day.
Vijay Sharma, who has been her coach for years, has great faith that Mirabai will win a medal in Paris. A Dronacharya awardee, Vijay has been with his ward for years. “It will be a challenge and I reckon 205 kg overall should fetch her a medal,” he said from their training base in Paris. “We still have enough time to keep working on her, improving daily. We are very confident.”
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At the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, Mirabai won silver, her effort being 202kg. She competed in the 49kg weight category, and that medal brought huge cheer. Those were the dark days of the Covid-19 pandemic and Mirabai was not fully fit in the months leading up to the Tokyo, grappling with a back injury. Doctors in Mumbai had said she was fine, but the pain persisted, from 2019 to 2020. Finally, she flew to Aaron Horschig, a strength and conditioning expert in the USA, who guided her to a full recovery.
In a physically intense sport like weightlifting, injuries are bound to happen. Even so, when Mirabai clutched her thigh and collapsed at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China in 2023, it was a sad sight. Forget winning a medal, she could not even go through her entire sequence of lifts.
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She returned to India, took rest, saw Dr Dinshaw Pardiwala, an orthopaedics expert in Mumbai, and got back to training. Once again, her strength and conditioning programme was designed by Horschig in the USA. According to Vijay, “We have been following whatever Aaron has said. She is pain-free and will do well.”
India’s first weightlifting bronze medallist from the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Karnam Malleswari, said: “Mira is working very hard, I am confident she will win a medal. Her dedication is praiseworthy.”
Sahdev Yadav, the Indian Weightlifting Federation president, has been saying for months that Mirabai will win a medal in Paris. “See, we know how to prepare her,” he said. “The challenge would have been from the North Koreans in her weight category. As they are ineligible to compete in Paris, after not following the mandatory anti-dope tests as prescribed by WADA, the field pens up for Mirabai.”
August 7 could be a red-letter day for Mirabai and all sports fans in India.
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