The once much-awaited Olympics has finally come to a close and among the 200-odd countries that took part, India finished 48th on the medal tally. This is the best performance the country has given in the past four decades with the previous best being Beijing Olympics 2008 (51st rank).
While Neeraj Chopra’s name has undoubtedly been the cynosure of all eyes for the gold that he won, on the bigger scheme of things, our ‘super women’ also deserve equal credit, if not more.
Mirabai Chanu gave the perfect opening for India by bagging silver in the women’s 49 kg weightlifting category. Hailing from a remote village of Imphal East district in Manipur, Chanu is said to have discovered her strength when she was just 12. She qualified for the 2016 Rio Olympics in the women’s 48 kg category but failed to finish it. However, this year, she scripted history by becoming the first Indian weightlifter to win silver at the Olympics and the second Indian weightlifter to win an Olympic medal, with the first being Karnam Malleswari.
Talk about superwomen in the history of Indian Olympics and P.V Sindhu is a name that cannot be ignored. After bringing home silver during the Rio Olympics, this time, she won bronze by defeating China’s He Bingjiao. Following this victory, she became the first Indian woman to win 2 medals at the Olympics.
Signing off with a bronze medal in her debut Olympics Games, Lovelina Borgohain too has done India proud. After all, it’s not every day that we see an Olympics debutant win such a striking victory. 23-year old Lovlina belongs to a small Baro Mukhla village of Assam’s Golaghat district. Joining MC Mary Kom and Vijendra Singh, she is the third Indian boxer to finish at the Olympics.
From the time when women weren’t even allowed to participate in the Olympics, today, they are making history by bringing medals after medals. Considering the journey Indian female Olympians have led through all these decades, what we have achieved so far as a country is tremendous.
