Mirabai Chanu’s Nagoya Mission: The Missing Medal and the Relentless Pursuit of LA28

Mirabai Chanu is on a mission: to win India’s first weightlifting medal at the Asian Games in three decades and, in doing so, earn the only medal missing from her cabinet.

Ever since Glasgow, she hasn’t missed a single day of training. In fact, even after winning the Commonwealth medal in Glasgow, Mira was back in the weightlifting hall the very next day, training for the Asian Games. While I have documented this incredible hunger in some of my pieces, what her coach Vijay Sharma said the day before came as a complete surprise to me as well.

“Yesterday we had called a nutritionist to the camp,” he said. “Mira was keen to meet the nutritionist and asked for a detailed diet chart, which she will follow from the 24th, the day after the Asian Games get over. In LA28, she will be participating in the 53kg category and she will start loading up from the day the Asian Games get done. She needs a detailed plan so that she doesn’t have to waste any time.”

In all honesty, I was taken aback. While I have always known Mira as a perfectionist and a disciplinarian, this was something else. To be Mirabai Chanu, India’s greatest-ever weightlifter, this is what you need.

“There are athletes who are as talented as Mira,” said Vijay. “In fact, I have even seen athletes who perhaps had more talent. But I haven’t seen anyone come close to Mira in commitment and discipline. That’s where she is different and that’s why she is the best.”

And yet, Mira is her usual humble self. You see her and she will greet you with a warm smile and never say no to an interview request. She has also started assisting Vijay Sharma in grooming Manipuri kids who are more comfortable with her around.

“We now have 22 kids from Manipur and they find it reassuring with Mira there,” said the coach.

On 23 September, each one of us will be awaiting history in Nagoya.

“I keep going to the camp and I can tell you Mirabai is in superb shape,” said Sahadev Yadav, Chef de Mission of the Indian contingent and President of the Weightlifting Federation. “She is definitely capable of lifting more than 200kg and, everything going well, you will see her on the podium in Nagoya. For Indian weightlifting, it will be a red-letter day. In our field, the Asian Games is as competitive as the Olympic Games and winning a medal here is not easy. I am very confident Mira will do so and make us proud.”

While I am cautiously optimistic for Mira, I can say one thing with certainty. While the world around her will celebrate, she will quietly start thinking of the diet chart she has to follow from the very next day. Her quest for LA28 will begin in Nagoya itself.

That’s why she is Mirabai Chanu, one of India’s greatest-ever athletes and a role model to us all.

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