Mirabai Chanu's failure in Paris 2024 rings alarm bell for the sport

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This must be the rarest of rare cases where an elite athlete has not competed in any event and comes to the Paris 2024 Olympics and is hyped as a medal prospect.

Welcome to the land of fiction and make-believe in Indian weightlifting where Mirabai Chanu was projected as a medal hope. For all those who stayed up late night in India on Wednesday, the Tokyo Olympics silver medallist looked like a fish out of water.

After registering her best in snatch, 88kg, equal to her national record, she messed up in clean and jerk. Even 111kg seemed like a mountain load for her.

Why? Because she has not been in competition since the day she clutched her thigh in pain at the Asian Games in Hangzhou last year and was removed from the arena. Mirabai could not even complete her "lifts" then and again she was with Dr Dinshaw Pardiwala in Mumbai. He told her "no training" for a few months. For its part, the Indian Weightlifting Federation was concocting all the stories she was a medal hope. How, we all know now, for it was fib.

Mirabai Chanu went to the United States of America for strength and conditioning at a base camp which she has used over the last three years. She has gained from it but to not have competed in any event at all and come straight to Paris was crazy. No trials, no competition, only practice sessions under coach Vijay Sharma, it was all murky. The Dronacharya was hopeful that her disciple would do a minimum of 202kg. All she managed was 199kg on Wednesday, way below her level.

Is Mirabai to be blamed on her birthday, today, as she turns 30 or coach Vijay Sharma and president of the weightlifting federation, Sahdev Yadav. They are the ones who pulled cotton wool over the eyes of one and all. Even in December, when Mirabai had to go to Doha for a competition and mandatory weigh-in, she did not make one attempt. Was that a strategy or foolishness on the part of the federation, the public needs to know.

No Indian athlete has been wrapped like this with care and thrown straight into the Olympic arena like this. It was bravado and of the worst kind. End result, after the two-hour programme, Mirabai Chanu said she was in discomfort due to "her third day period."

It is well-known lady athletes face the monthly 'period problem' and have to deal with it. There is no medication possible as it will result in being caught in dope tests. Was Mirabai not aware on the day of her meet what lay in store? Had she not planned for all this, which is something beyond the purview of sports, per se.

Is it a case where "monthly period" is being cited as a reason for failure? One cannot be harsh with the Tokyo medallist as she has dealt with success and failure in the past. Just that, after Tokyo, she has hardly taken part in major meets. That is a reason why there was an element of doubt if Mirabai was ready to face the best in the arena. She has attempted three Olympics and a fourth is impossible, in 2028.

Mirabai knows her body has been put through a lot of pain and torture as weightlifting is a killing sport. She can take a break, go back home to Manipur and be with her family. Non-stop camps have made her so tired. The bigger picture is, Indian weightlifting begins and ends with Mirabai Chanu. There is none after her in the men's and women's section.

The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has spent crores on her training. With India's medal tally so anaemic now, questions will be asked of many federations. Weightlifting will also be one. What answers will be provided by the officials and coach for Mirabai's massive failure will be on the agenda. A fourth-place finish is not enough. No way.