Mirabai Chanu winning a second consecutive Olympic medal was always going to be a daunting task considering her age and injury-ravaged body. But it was not far-fetched.
The star Indian lifter, however, did herself no favours by delivering a performance that fell well short of her best in Paris, leaving her with no option but to live with the agony of a fourth-place finish.
The most decorated weightlifter in the country, she had ended India's 21-year wait for an Olympic medal in the sport by clinching a silver at the Tokyo Games three years ago. Her glittering trophy cabinet is a testament to her consistency.
But in the French capital last week, Chanu fumbled three of her six lifts, two of which came in the clean and jerk section, considered her forte.
Chanu, a former world champion, had put herself in the third spot after she nailed a national record-equalling 88kg snatch lift at the South Paris Arena.
Given that her clean and jerk personal best was second only to China's Hou Zhihui and significantly more than Romania's Mihaela Cambei and Thailand's Surodchana Khambao, it was expected that Chanu would overcome the deficit and secure the silver once again.
Chanu, whose personal best in clean and jerk is 119kg, opted for 114kg on the barbell in her third and final attempt, which would have fetched her a bronze.
National coach Vijay Sharma has always maintained that a total of 205kg-206kg was needed to win gold and they were training to achieve that. His calculations were spot on but Chanu's execution was not.
Her total effort of 199kg was just one kilogram less than the bronze winning Thai lifter's best effort.
To put things into perspective, if Chanu had lifted her personal best in clean and jerk as well, she could have been an Olympic champion today.
Chanu had entered the Tokyo Games brimming with confidence after having shattered the clean and jerk world record but in her last tournament ahead of the Paris edition, she heaved 184kg (81kg+103kg), her lowest total in years.
She competed in just five tournaments in the three years between the Tokyo Olympics and the Paris Games.
The Sports Ministry spent Rs 2.74 crore on her in the Paris Olympic cycle which included sending her to train under Dr Aaron Horschig, a former weightlifter-turned-physical therapist and strength and conditioning coach, in the US in May 2023.
Horschig's service was again procured for a pre-Olympic training camp.
This Olympic cycle has been marred by injuries for Chanu, who turned 30 just a day after the competition in Paris.
She sustained a wrist injury during the 2023 World Championships, where she still managed to claim a silver medal. Her next appearance was at the 2023 Asian Championships, where she finished fifth.
Chanu then returned to action at the Asian Games, only to be hampered by hip tendonitis.
The strain of lifting twice her body weight and injuries have taken their toll on Chanu. As the lone hope of Indian weightlifting for years, her journey highlights a troubling reality: the absence of a deserving successor.
This is a matter that the Indian Weightlifting Federation must seriously contemplate.
