India’s Mirabai Chanu was not able to repeat her Tokyo Olympics heroics on Wednesday, 7 August.
The Tokyo silver medallist, finished 4th in Paris while competing in the women’s 49kg weightlifting event with a total lift of 199 kgs. Chanu is among the long list of Indian athletes to finish fourth in Paris after the likes of Manu Bhaker, Arjun Babuta and Lakshya Sen.
At the South Paris Arena, Mirabai started strong lifting her personal best in the snatch stage, but was not able to reach anywhere close to her best in clean and jerk. Chanu finished 8 kgs short of her personal best lift (207) on Wednesday. In the tough field, China’s Hou Zhihui, the bronze medallist from Tokyo, clinched the gold medal with a thrilling final lift. Romania’s Valentina Cambei and Thailand’s Surodchana Khambao finished second and third respectively.
Mirabai put in a great show at the start of the event, lifting 85 and 88kgs in snatch, putting in a new personal best. Snatch has been Mirabai’s weak point throughout her career, but she put in a statement lift and created a distance from the rest of the field.
At the end of the snatch event, Mirabai was placed joint third position. Romania’s Cambei and China’s Hou were the two athletes ahead of her having lifted 93 and 89 kgs respectively. Mirabai was tied for third with Thailand’s Surodchana Khambao.
Chanu, who holds a world record of 119 kgs in the clean and jerk, started the second phase of the event with the biggest first attempt in the field. She registered her attempt at 111 kgs but failed to lift the weight. She managed to complete the clean, but failed to lift the bar over her head in the jerk.
The commentators reminded the viewers of the injury concerns that Mirabai had in recent times and said that it had been a while since she had lifted these kinds of weights.
Mirabai pressed on in her second attempt and successfully lifted 111 kgs to put her back in third place with a total lift of 199 kgs (88 snatch + 111 clean and jerk). The Indian was bested by Romanian Valentina (110), Hou (110) and Khambao (112) in the second attempt and fell behind the medal positions.
Mirabai tried a desperate attempt of 114 kgs as her final attempt in clean and jerk but was not able to lift the bar.
MIRABAI’S INJURY CONCERNS
Mirabai Chanu had faced a series of injuries ahead of the Paris Olympics. In 2022, she suffered a severe injury during a training session, which included a rotator cuff, shoulder, and wrist injury. This was described by her as the worst injury of her career.
More recently, she experienced a hip injury, which added to her list of setbacks. These injuries have significantly impacted her training and competitive appearances. In 2023, she competed in only two events, managing just four successful lifts out of a possible 12, and sustaining additional injuries along the way.
The most traumatic injury occurred at the Asian Games, where she fell on her back while attempting a 117kg clean and jerk lift, resulting in a six-month injury layoff. This injury was particularly significant as it prevented her from securing an Asian Games medal, a top-line honour missing from her collection.