Paris 2024: Weightlifter Mirabai Chanu targets historic second Olympic medal | Paris Olympics 2024 Information

Saikhom Mirabai Chanu is vying for her second consecutive Olympic medal on the Paris Video games and is one in all India’s chief hopes of a medal within the French capital.
Mirabai, who gained a silver medal on the final Olympics, is among the 4 particular person Indian athletes aiming to duplicate their success from the Tokyo Video games and safe back-to-back medals. As the only real weightlifter representing India at Paris 2024, Mirabai will shoulder the expectations of over 1.3 billion folks.Nonetheless, the 29-year-old is not any stranger to lifting weights or being the lone Indian competitor in her sport at main occasions.
Within the re-scheduled Tokyo Olympics held in 2021, after the Covid-forced postponement of a yr, Mirabai made historical past by successful the silver medal within the 49 kg weight class, changing into the second Indian weightlifter to realize this feat after Karnam Malleswari in 2000. This accomplishment additionally established her as essentially the most profitable Indian lifter on the Olympics.

As Mirabai prepares for her third Olympic look, she goals to hitch shuttler PV Sindhu because the second Indian lady sportsperson to win back-to-back medals within the quadrennial Video games. Sindhu achieved this outstanding feat in 2016 and 2020.
Regardless of her spectacular observe document, which incorporates changing into the primary Indian to win the World Championship in her weight class in 2017, Mirabai faces a difficult path to the rostrum within the girls’s 49kg class. The competitors on this class is fierce, and she is going to must be at her greatest to safe a medal in Paris.
China’s Hou Zhihui, the reigning Olympic champion from Tokyo, leads the sector by a major margin with a complete elevate of 200kg, whereas her closest rivals have not too long ago lifted between 180 to 190kg. Hou’s qualification for the Paris Olympics was not with out challenges, as she secured her spot within the remaining moments of the 2024 IWF World Cup in Phuket, Thailand, surpassing her teammate Jiang Huihua along with her final elevate.

On the Phuket occasion, Hou set a world document within the snatch class by lifting 97 kg, cementing her place as the highest contender amongst her rivals, together with Mirabai, Thailand’s Surodchana Khambao and Jourdan Delacruz from the USA.
Mirabai’s energy lies within the clear and jerk, the place she beforehand held the World Document at 119 kg. To be in rivalry for a medal, she might want to carry out exceptionally properly within the snatch to capitalize on her clear and jerk efficiency.
Mirabai’s private greatest stands at 203 kg (88 kg in Snatch and 115 kg in Clear & Jerk), which she achieved on the 2020 Senior Nationwide Weightlifting Championships. She additional improved her clear and jerk efficiency to 119 kg on the 2020 Asian Weightlifting Championship in Tashkent, reaching a complete of 205kg.
Nonetheless, Mirabai’s journey to Paris has been hampered by accidents since successful the silver medal in Tokyo. Her most up-to-date setback was a hip harm sustained on the Hangzhou Asian Video games in 2023, which saved her out of competitors for 5 months.
Regardless of her restricted participation this season, with just one occasion on the IWF World Cup in Phuket the place she positioned twelfth with a complete elevate of 184 kilos, the CWG gold medallist secured her spot for Paris.
The weightlifting occasions in Paris, commencing on August 7, will current a formidable problem for the Indian lifter. Mirabai’s spectacular observe document features a gold medal on the 2017 World Championship and a silver in 2022 in Bogota. Her achievements have been acknowledged with the celebrated Khel Ratna Award and the Padma Shri in 2018.
At present, Mirabai is present process coaching on the famend La Ferte-Milon in France, beneath the steering of her American physio, Dr. Aron Horschig. The companies of Dr. Horschig, geared toward optimizing Mirabai’s preparation for the Olympics, are being supported via TOPS funding.
Whereas Dr. Horschig focuses on sustaining Mirabai’s bodily health, chief nationwide coach Vijay Sharma, who’s accompanying her in France, can be strategizing her marketing campaign to safe a medal.
(With IANS inputs)