Mirabai Chanu suffered heartbreak after narrowly missing out on a medal at the Paris Olympics 2024 on Wednesday, August 7. India's ace weightlifter finished fourth in the women's 49kg category and missed out on a medal by just 1 kg.
The reigning champion Hou Zhihui of China claimed the gold by lifting 207 kg, including a new world record of 117 kg in the clean and jerk event. Romania's Mihaela Valentina Cambei was leading till the last moment and settled for silver after lifting a total of 205 kg. Thailand's Khambai Surodchana lifted 200kg, one more than Mirabai to clinch the bronze medal.
Mirabi successfully lifted 85kg in her first attempt in the snatch to take a lead in the standings. However, she failed to lift 88kg in her second attempt to lose a lead to Thailand's Khambao Surodchana. The world record holder and the defending champion Hou Zhihui of China failed to lift 89 kg in her first attempt but failed. She successfully lifted 89kg in her second attempt to take the lead for a moment.
Romania's Mihaela Valentina Cambei dominated the snatch round by lifting 89, 91 and 93 kgs in her three attempts. Mirabai stayed in medal contention with a joint-third finish after the snatch round.
In the clean and jerk category, the Indian weightlifter allowed others to go first and went for a 111kg lift on her first attempt. But the silver medalist at the Tokyo Olympics 2020 failed to jerk in her first attempt but quickly went for her second one and lifted 111kg to take second place in the standings.
However, Khambao Surodchana lifted 112 kg in her second attempt to push Mirabai to the third place and then Hou Zhihui went big by lifting a record 117 kg to jump to top position and deny Mirabai a medal.
