Veteran lifter Kunjarani Devi lifted a total of 190 kilos at the 2004 Athens Olympics.
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Olympics for India has been a matter of pride and has given the country n number of firsts, and a slew of athletes the coming generation could look up to, and take inspiration from when they take up sports as a career. And one such name was none other than Kunjarani Devi.
Veteran lifter Kunjarani Devi lifted a total of 190 kilos. However, she finished at the fifth spot. Outside of the medals bracket in the 48 kg category at the 2004 Athens Olympics. The weightlifting competition was eventually won by Nurcan Taylan of Turkey with a world record lift of 210 kg. Kunjarani had a bad start, failing to lift 82.5 kg in her first snatch event. She made a comeback in her second attempt. But then failed to lift 85 kg in the final effort and slipped to the seventh position at the end of the snatch event.
Faced with the mammoth task of leaving behind four lifters. Claiming the bronze medal, the Assistant Commandant with the Central Reserve Police Force began with a lift of 102.5 kg. She then successfully lifted 107.5 kg on the second attempt but failed in her third effort on 112.5 and finished with a tally of 190 kg.
Having barely entered adulthood, the Indian track queen PT Usha won two silver medals at home in New Delhi. The entire country noticed PT Usha but for a 14-year-old Kunjarani Devi, she changed her life.
“That event made me feel like even I could excel at sport,” Kunjarani Devi told the Olympic Channel. “I started playing a lot of sports then – be it hockey, football, or running.”
Kunjarani’s small frame, and the consequent low centre of gravity she stood at, made her an ideal candidate for the sport.
Kunjarani Devi, her close friend Anita Chanu, took up powerlifting as their sport of choice. And not too long after, she broke the national powerlifting record. Just a few months into taking up the sport, she was well on her way to become a household name. Inspiring a generation of young women to come.
In 1985, the first edition of the National Games was held in India. It was built on the Olympics model, which meant all the sports that were a part of the Olympics. This was to be added to the roster for both men and women. Women’s weightlifting was only added to the Olympic roster in 2000.
Kunjarani Devi saw an opportunity to realise her Olympic dream and decided to switch from powerlifting to weightlifting. It was not a simple decision.
“Powerlifting had three formats (squats, bench press and deadlifts) while weightlifting only had the snatch and clean and jerk. Moreover, there was a lot of emphasis on your strength in powerlifting while weightlifting was more to do with your technique,” explained Kunjarani.
However, the former Indian weightlifter puts her smooth transition – she won three gold medals at the National Games – down to her adaptability.
“Playing so many sports helped me get into that mindset quickly,” Kunjarani reasoned. “I had already made a switch from hockey, football and athletics to powerlifting earlier, so the leap to weightlifting was not a new thing.”
Another factor that made her more determined was reading about Chinese and Russian weightlifters in sports magazines.
“I could see that the world record was not too far from the weights I was lifting. My coaches always told me that if I kept working hard, my dream of representing India would be realised soon,” the Indian weightlifter recalled.
Kunjarani Devi would get that opportunity soon enough.
Kunjarani narrowly missed the title of the World Champion several times: in 1993 she arrived in Melbourne a day late for her own weight category event because of a delay in getting her Australian visa. She competed in a higher class and won silver in the 50 kg.
She recovered from knee surgery in 1996 to return to sport, stronger than ever with an eye on Sydney, lifting world record weights in practice.
“My last ambition is to compete at the Olympics and win a medal for India,” she said days before she found herself cruelly axed from the Indian squad.
Never one to give up, Kunjarani Devi rose through the lull once again in 2002. This time winning the first world championship silver. The Indian weightlifter won three gold medals in the 48kg – overall, clean and jerk, and snatch – at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester.
“I wanted to better myself every single day and improve my game on a daily basis. That’s what helped me earn that gold,” Kunjarani said.
After this, the veteran represented India at the 2004 Athens Olympics. And as they say, the rest is history.
