 "Who is Mirabai Chanu, latest Indian to finish fourth in Paris Olympics")
Mirabai Chanu almost made up for India’s heartbreak in wrestling with a second consecutive Olympic medal in weightlifting, only to become the latest Indian to join the ‘fourth-place’ club in the Paris Olympics on Wednesday.
**Paris Olympics: News, schedule, medals tally and more**India’s cycle of heartbreaks at the Paris Games continued on Wednesday after wrestler Vinesh Phogat was disqualified from the women’s 50kg event. Vinesh had already qualified for the final, confirming at least a silver and was aiming to become the first Indian wrestler to win Olympic gold when she was declared overweight by just 100 grams during her second weigh-in on Wednesday.
Chanu was among India’s key medal hopes heading into the Paris Olympics, and she was aiming to become the first athlete since wrestler Sushil Kumar and shuttler PV Sindhu to medal in back-to-back Olympics.
The Manipuri weightlifter, however, ended up finishing fourth after posting a final score of 199 — lifting a maximum of 88kg in snatch and 111kg in clean-and-jerk. China’s Hou Zhihui snatched the gold medal from Romania’s Mihaela Cambei in the very last attempt of the event, lifting an Olympic clean-and-jerk record of 117kg to finish with a combined weight of 206kg, a kilogram more than what Cambei managed to relegate her to silver.
Thailand’s Surodchana Khambao won bronze with a total of 200, just one more than Chanu, who could have finished with bronze had she successfully lifted 114 in her final attempt.
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More ShortsHere’s more you need to know about Chanu:
Who is Mirabai Chanu?
Chanu was born on 8 August, 1994 in Nongpok Kakching near the Manipuri capital of Imphal, born into a family that belongs to the Meitei warrior tribe. She could pick up heavy loads right from an early age, loads that even her elder brother struggled with, and decided to enter the sport of weightlifting at the age of 14, by joining the Sports Academy in Manipur.
Chanu had to endure financial hardships in her early years in the sport and also had to travel a great distance to Imphal to train, often hitching rides with truck drivers. She would later touch the feet of the very same truck drivers as a sign of respect after winning silver in the Tokyo Olympics.
Chanu would compete in the Nationals for the first time at the age of 17 in 2011 and would join the National Camp in Bengaluru around the same time. She has been training at the Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sports in Patiala since 2012.
Besides being a world-class athlete, Chanu serves as an Additional Superintendent of Police (Sports) in the Manipur Police.
How has the government funded her?
Chanu receives a financial assistance of Rs 1,22,06,992 under the Sports Ministry’s Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) as well as an amount of Rs 1,52,25,850 under the Annual Calendar for Training and Competition(ACTC).
The government had also provided assistance for her to train abroad — at the SQUAT University in USA in May last year and more recently under Dr. Aaron Horschig in St Louis, USA in the months of January and February this year.
What are Mirabai’s achievements?
— Olympic Games (2020) - Silver Medal
— World Weightlifting Championships (2022) - Silver Medal
— Commonwealth Games (2022) - Gold Medal
— IWF World Cup (2024)- Bronze Medal
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