Explained: How Mirabai Chanu, just 49 kg, could lift a massive 113 kg on her way to a CWG gold medal | Explained News,The Indian Express
Weightlifters like Indian heroes in Birmingham, Mirabai, Jeremy Lalrinnunga, and Achinta Sheuli, have lifted several times their body weight. How do they do it? It’s about the technique, and tricking gravity. And sometimes, it helps if you are small in stature.
“Your windpipe is compressed, so you can’t breathe. Your nervous system practically stops functioning, so no signal reaches your brain. You start feeling dizzy. Then, there’s a complete blackout.”
This is Sathish Sivalingam, a 2014 and 2018 Commonwealth Games gold medallist, describing what a weightlifter’s body experiences while lifting iron that is twice or thrice their body weight.
In the last few days, India’s weightlifters have made it look easy. On Saturday (July 30), Mirabai Chanu, whose body weight is a mere 49 kg, lifted 113 kg in clean and jerk while demolishing the rest of the field en route to her gold medal. The next day, Jeremy Lalrinnunga, who weighs 66 kg, snatched 140kg — more than twice his body weight — to set a Commonwealth Games record. And later that evening, Achinta Sheuli, weighing 73 kg, hoisted weights over his head that were almost two-and-a-half times more to complete India’s gold medal hat-trick.
They did it with incredible nonchalance and grace, betraying what their bodies were actually going through.
“When someone like Mirabai, who is 49 kg, holds a barbell weighing 119 kg (her world record lift in clean and jerk) at her throat, how do you breathe? The entire body goes numb,” Sivalingam, a former national and CWG record holder, said. “It’s insanely tough.”
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