From firewood to barbells, no burden is too heavy for India's Mirabai

NEW DELHI : Mirabai Chanu believes she will need to lift at least four times her current weight of 50kgs to stand a chance of winning a second Olympic medal at Paris 2024 and she will have to do it with a battered body after a disrupted buildup.

Yet India's elite weightlifter, whose rags-to-riches story remains an inspiration for others and a source of motivation for herself, has never shirked a challenge.

"Beyond the material changes, winning a medal at the Olympics brings an immense sense of self-belief," Mirabai told Reuters from her training base in the north Indian city of Patiala.

"A belief that if I can achieve a silver medal against all odds, there are no limits to what I can do if I remain dedicated and resilient."

The 29-year-old comes from a village in the northeastern state of Manipur, where her father worked as a construction worker and her mother ran a roadside tea stall.

Youngest of six siblings, Mirabai did the heavy lifting, literally, in her childhood when she scoured the local forest for firewood.

During one of their forest trips, her brother, four years her senior, could not lift one bundle but she hauled it up and carried it home on her head.

Her mother decided Mirabai would be better off showcasing her strength in weightlifting than by performing domestic chores.

"I used to help my siblings and parents in carrying firewood and fetch water from distant places," Mirabai recalled.

"That's how my mother realised that I have an innate strength and suggested I take up weightlifting. It was completely by chance."

Yet the nearest training facility was some 20km away in Imphal and commuting posed a challenge.

FREE TRUCK RIDES

It was a group of truckers who came to the rescue, offering her free rides every day as they