The singular focus for most of weightlifter Mirabai Chanu’s compatriots at the Commonwealth Games (CWG) in Birmingham will be a medal. For the Olympic silver medallist, though, the goal is a number. “I want to make a 90kg snatch,” she says.
It isn’t that she isn’t thinking of a medal. In honesty, it’s almost a foregone conclusion that at the end of the 49kg weightlifting competition in Birmingham on July 30, Mirabai will be wearing gold around her neck.
It isn’t conceit to make this assessment. In contrast to most sports, weightlifting events rarely throw up surprises. Lifters know how much they are capable of lifting and what the rest of the field is likely to do. This is where the numbers suggest that Mirabai, a former world champion, should finish on the top of the podium. In her only competition this year, at the Singapore Open in February, a less than fully fit Mirabai lifted a total of 186kg. That is still 18kg more than her nearest rival at the CWG — Nigeria’s Stella Kingsley, who has a personal best total of 168kg.
Mirabai has already set her sights beyond the CWG gold medal, which, if she wins, will be her second at the event. She won the 48kg competition in Glasgow in 2018. For the 27-year-old from Manipur, however, the top step of the podium in Birmingham is but a stepping stone to the ultimate prize — an Olympic gold medal at the Paris Games in 2024.
“The Commonwealth Games isn’t just a competition for me. It’s also a preparation for what follows. After the CWG, I’ll have to start preparing for the Olympic qualification period,” she says. “In this Commonwealth Games, I’ll know what I’ve learned and where I need to improve. My goal at the CWG will be to cross 90kg in the snatch,” she says.
The weightlifting event consists of two movements: the snatch, and the clean and jerk.
In the clean and jerk, competitors lift the bar off the floor and hoist it explosively to receive it on the shoulders. This is done by squatting to get underneath the bar in an optimally powerful position. Then the lifter stands up with the weight and rests it on the shoulders, across the collar bones, before lifting it overhead. This lift relies a lot on pure strength, which, coupled with a sound technique, helps the overall performance. This is the lift in which Mirabai, the world record holder with 119kg, excels.
The snatch movement, in contrast, requires lifters to lift the bar overhead in one motion. It’s generally done with a wider grip (because of demands of the lift) than the clean and jerk, and faults in technique will expose an athlete. No weightlifter can brute force elite numbers in the snatch with faulty technique. Also, clean and jerk numbers will invariably be more than in the snatch.
The snatch is the portion of the lift in which Mirabai, who has a personal best of 88kg, usually gives up ground. Moreover, a weightlifting competition starts with the snatch. Mirabai’s numbers in this are still world class, but some of those she beats in the total have better snatch lifts.
There is a rough formula to this. Among elite weightlifters, the ideal ratio is that the snatch lift should be between 78 to 82 per cent of the clean and jerk.
China's Hou Zhihui, who won gold in the Tokyo Olympics, lifted 94kg in the snatch — about 81 per cent of her clean and jerk of 116kg. At the 2019 Asian Championships, where she also won gold, Zhihui lifted 92kg in the snatch — around 79 per cent of the 116kg she lifted in the clean and jerk.
Mirabai, in contrast, snatched 87kg in Tokyo — about 75.6 per cent of her 115kg clean and jerk.
Mirabai knows she needs to improve her snatch lift. “When I did the (clean and jerk) world record (of 119kg) at the Asian Championships (in April 2021), I thought I had a lot of confidence that I could fight for the gold. But the Chinese girl is much stronger in the snatch. She has the record (96kg) in that. I knew I could fight her in the clean and jerk. At the Olympics, I thought I would be able to get close, but couldn’t. That motivates me a lot even now. With a snatch of over 90kg, I would have challenged for the Olympic gold,” says Mirabai.
After the Olympics, Mirabai and national coach, Vijay Sharma, returned to St. Louis in the US, where she looked to Dr. Aaron Horschig to correct the physical deficiencies limiting her.
The problem, she says, is one of balance. Horschig, one of the world’s foremost physiotherapists, has worked with the Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Football League (NFL), footballers, Olympic weightlifters and Strongman competitors. He has been working with Mirabai for a couple of years. Horschig has concluded that Mirabai, over the years of bad lifting mechanics, started moving her shoulders out of sync.
“My two shoulders were uneven,” says Mirabai. “I’ve tried to bring it to the same level (when I lift). In the past, because they were not level, I was sometimes not able to keep the bar steady when it was in the top position (lifted overhead). There was a difference in the kind of muscles I had on the two shoulders. That’s why I had to work to keep the muscle level.”
There’s no quick solution to the problem Mirabai is facing. It built up over many years and will take nearly that long to correct. But it’s a process the Indian is willing to put herself through. Indeed, while many of India’s Olympic medallists in Tokyo took part in functions and celebrations for months, Mirabai threw herself into training as soon as she could.
“After I came from Tokyo, I started training from August itself. It wasn’t easy because I had functions to attend. Weightlifting is a sport in which if you rest for a week or even a day, you lose a lot of strength. One month got wasted in meeting people and going home,” she says.
The Olympic medal is keeping Mirabai focused. “In the past, few knew weightlifting or Mirabai Chanu. Now, people recognise me. It happens when I go out, even with the mask. Kids come up to me and say, ‘Aap Mira didi lagte hain (You look like Mira didi). Some young girl lifters say they want to be like me. They say they watch my videos and learn. That’s a reward for me,” says Mirabai.
With recognition comes increased expectation. “I never think I am strong enough or that I have won enough. I always think I have to improve. I think that if I have done well once (at the CWG), I have to do better this time. That’s what I keep thinking about. When I won the CWG last time I did a record (Mirabai won gold with a total of 196kg in the 48kg category). This time I want gold and another record. But I also want to make a 90 kg snatch,” she says. She keeps taking the conversation to the 90kg mark, much like javelin fans focus on when Olympic javelin champion Neeraj Chopra will breach 90 metres.
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Mirabai will first test out her snatch lift in the Khelo India National Championships before she travels to England with the rest of the weightlifting team for the CWG. While she hopes to hit the 90kg mark in Birmingham, Mirabai doesn’t plan on stopping with just that lift. “I will focus on the snatch at the CWG, but at the World Championships (in Colombia in November this), I want to make a 90kg-plus lift in the snatch and also cross 120kg (a new world record) in the clean and jerk,” she says.
“The target for CWG is to test out all the work I’ve done on improving my snatch. I’ve made a lot of changes. I want to see the result that I’ve got. This is like a trial for me. I want to see how much I’ve improved. Then we can take the next step.”
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