Paris Olympics Dispatch: Mirabai Chanu left standing alone at doorstep of glory after 4th-place heartbreak

Paris: The story of so near and yet so far continues for the Indian contingent at the 2024 Paris Olympics. The tally of medals stays at three, all bronze, and the tale of failures piles on.

And the number of fourth places at these games swelled to six. Weightlifter Saikhom Mirabai, who sought to lift our spirits, became the latest to join that ‘painful’ list.

Mirabai’s fourth place became the sixth one for an Indian or an Indian team in Paris. Mirabai joined shooters Manu Bhaker (25m pistol), Arjun Babuta (10m Air Rifle), Maheshwari Chauhan and Anantjeet Singh Naruka (skeet mixed team), archers Dhiraj Bommadevara and Ankita Bhakat (Mixed Team) and badminton player Lakshya Sen. All victims of that cruel fourth place.

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The only difference is that Bhaker finished fourth in her third event, after securing two bronze medals. The third medal came from another shooter, Swapnil Kusale.

The teary story began very early in the morning and even before the first competition had begun as Vinesh Phogat, India’s first woman to reach a wrestling final was disqualified for being overweight at the weigh-in almost 12 hours ahead of her competition.

A mere 100 grams came in the way of a new chapter being written in Indian sports history. It was a burden that the whole of India found difficult to bear. There was no way the hurt of Vinesh’s ‘unbelievable disqualification’ could go away.

Mirabai, silver medallist at Tokyo, standing an inch less than five feet, sought to dull and lessen the stubborn pain which kept resurfacing each minute. By evening it was hurting even more.

And, then the weight on the Indian's shoulders increased manifold as Mirabai finished one kilo short of getting onto the podium. It may even have been an error in strategy that cost Mirabai a medal. But that’s another story left for another day.

Defending champion Hou Zhihui (89 kg Snatch plus a Olympic record 117 kg Clean & Jerk) totalled 206, while Romania’s Mihaela Cambei (93 plus 112) totalled 205kg to take a silver.

Thailand’s Surodchana Khambao and Mirabai had 88kg snatch each. Then the Thai hoisted 110 kg and increased it to 112 kg but failed at 114 kg. Mirabai failed once at 111 kg, a failure that cost her an attempt, but succeeded on her second lift. She then asked for 114 kg, at which she failed.

Had Mirabai asked for 113 kg in Clean & Jerk for her third attempt instead of 114 kg, a successful lift would have carried her to a total of 201 kg as the Thai failed at 114 kg and tallied only 200 kg. Mirabai, after failed at 114 kg, was stranded at 199 kg. If only wishes and dreams could come true.

Where wrestler Vinesh’s story resembles a Greek tragedy, Mirabai, seems to have been left standing alone at the doorstep of glory.

The disaster of no lifts in Clean & Jerk in 2016 was dream shattered. But there was then redemption with a silver in 2020. Alas, it was a mere fourth place and heartbreak in Paris 2024.

Will Mirabai be back in 2024 in Los Angeles? Don’t even ask Mirabai that right now, for when she gets back to her room in the Games Village, she will still be thinking of broken dreams she left scattered around Hall No. 6 in South Paris Hall.

Meanwhile, the huge contingent of Indian fans which had descended onto Hall No. 6 in South Paris Arena, left crestfallen with the Indian flag still clutched in their hands.

Maybe, they will bring it for the bronze medal play-off at the hockey arena.

The cruellest of all facts was that even as the 49kg weightlifting competition unfolded, the date on the calendars in India had turned from August 7 to August 8, the day, Mirabai Chanu turned 30, a milestone in one’s life.

But for now, it was not a birthday, she would like to celebrate.