Remember that moment in the men's 100m final at the 2008 Beijing Olympics where Usain Bolt pointed at the cameras before crossing the finish line? Mirabai Chanu also has one of them now.
While Mirabai's silver in the women's 49kg weightlifting event - India's first medal in Tokyo - was still the better part of an hour, there was a moment early in the competition where the 26-year-old knew she was in the bag.
It came in his first lift of the competition – a snatch lift for 84kg. Mirabai has been battling with this lift on a regular basis. It is a single movement lift, much more technical than the two-movement clean and jerk lift that holds their world record. It is also important for the Indian prospects. Miss it, and Mirabai will be playing catch up. How Mirabai performed in her first lift will have a huge impact on the rest of the competition.
At the same time she has prepared for the moment, it is not her easiest endeavor. When Mirabai goes under the bar, her legs become too wide and her weight is out of control. There at the bottom of the movement, she stops, in a squat, with the bar overhead. It's only for a fraction of a second but it feels like an eternity. Her Olympic hopes are still in limbo but you can finally see the beginning of a smile on her face. Calmly, she stabilizes the bar and stands up. She is shining now. The judges indicate three white lights - clean lift.
Just like that, Mirabai is on her way to complete a redemption arc that has taken five years to build.
Five years ago, during her final lift at the Rio Olympics, Mirabai stepped into the bar. He touched her reverently the way she always does. He had red, white and green iron weights in front of his total of 106 kg. If he completed the lift, he had a bronze. Chance to make history. It is more than nothing, a weight he almost casually lifted in practice. But the day she needs it more than ever, she flutters in her line. The bar crashes and so does Mirabai Chanu.
Later Mirabai spoke about the deep pit of despair she had fallen into. How she kept crying from the stadium to her hotel room thinking she had lost the opportunity of a lifetime. Her roommates try to comfort her, her coaches try to convince her. Anita Chanu, who first coached Mirabai when she was 12, reminded her when she returned home to Imphal in search of some peace: "You are a child. Your time will come. Use what you have learned. Make the most of it."
It takes a few weeks but Mirabai eventually finds the will to step back into the gym. "That was the lowest point of my life. But it made me who I am today," she would say with the medal around her neck.
once more into the fray.
Mirabai has grown up - at the age of 27 she is at her physical peak. She has learned to win in the big stages - in 2017 she won a gold medal at the World Championships. She has also won gold in Commonwealth Games but it doesn't really matter. Right after that victory, she bought a pair of Olympic ring-shaped ear studs that she is still wearing in Tokyo. She made the sacrifice - missed the marriage and moved away from her family for almost a year in Nongpak Kakching village of Imphal.
Her family is now the weightlifting community at the National Institute of Sport in Patiala – in fact her first video call post victory is done at the weightlifting hall where they do hooping, hollering and dancing. She has become stronger. When the COVID-19 pandemic forced the postponement of the Olympics, Mirabai delayed progress. She emerged stronger than before. Over the past five years, leaving no chance, Mirabai has ironed out the flaws in her technique. His clean and jerk is probably the best in the world. A few months earlier, she had finished third at the Asian Championships behind two Chinese lifters (and only one lifter from China was allowed to compete in the Olympics) – essentially second in the world.
On paper leading up to her competition in Tokyo, it would be hard to argue that Mirabai was not in favor of a place on the podium. By the time she had lifted the weights several times in practice and competition, she was almost as confident. Where did we see it before?
In the weeks and days before the Olympics, it looked like it was a different version of Mirabai, who was less mentally weak than the one who went to Rio.
How will she do it?
She absolutely nails it.
She makes her first two snatch lifts - the first time since 2017. Her second lift is 87kg, which she has lifted in an international competition. When she starts the clean and jerk segment, the result is almost certain. While China's Zhihui is working on another level, Mirabai is winning her own battle. She lifted 110 kg in her first clean and jerk lift to formalize the remainder of the competition.
In her final attempt of the evening, Mirabai has a chance to go to sleep - provided she lifts 123kg. This is four kg more than her world record, and therefore she chooses the Olympic record of 117 kg.
In her final lift to the Tokyo Olympics, Mirabai Chanu walks up to the bar. She touched it reverently, the way she has always participated in every competition. The brightly colored red, white and green irons in front of him weighed a total of 117 kg. She leaned forward, then cleanly pulled the heavy bar to rest on her shoulder blade. The bar is two and a half times his body weight. As she attempts to raise the bar, it is clear she is struggling. His knee is bent, then his elbow gives way. The bar crashes. Chanu sits down in apparent despair. But then she wakes up with a smile and a wave.
There is victory even in failure.
Her previous lift, which she had made neatly, was 115kg. Add this to her 87kg in the snatch category and Mirabai lifted a total of 202kg. That's 8kg less than the Chinese spiky-haired Zhihui, but a significant 8kg ahead of Indonesia's Windy Kentika in third place. That's enough for silver. This is more than enough for redemption.