Inspiring Women at the Olympics: Fighting Against All Odds

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Inspiring Women at the Olympics: Fighting Against All Odds

Indian women at the Tokyo Olympics 2020 have done us proud. Fighting all odds and working tirelessly towards their goals has finally got them the prize they have been working for. Here’s a look at the inspiring women at the Olympics who have opened up doors for millions of girls to dream.

 

These women prove that if given a chance, they too can excel in the world of sports.

 

Mirabai Chanu – Silver for Weightlifting

 

Mira faced a huge setback in her Olympic dreams at Rio in 2016. The 26-year-old almost gave up her sport. It was her supportive mother who encouraged her to not worry about the past but focus on the future. Her mother runs a small tea shop and there were days when she could barely feed Mira. However, her support for her daughter was undettered.

Her coach, Vijay Sharma, says that she did not go to her home for almost five years. She did nothing but eat, sleep, and train. This kind of dedication is what won Mira the coveted Olympic medal. “I completely failed in 2016. But I learned a lot from that defeat. I told myself that I need to do better at the next Games. That’s why I have improved and won,” she says.

Mira has revealed that is grateful to the truck drivers who stopped at her mother’s tea stall during the early days of her training. They often gave her free rides from her home in the Nongpok Kakching village to the training centre at the Khuman Lampak sports complex in Imphal, 25 kilometres away! Her story will go down in history as one of the inspiring women at the Olympics.

 

PV Sindhu – Bronze for Badminton

 

At the young age of 24, shuttler PV Sindhu has created history by becoming the first Indian woman to win two Olympic medals. She became interested in badminton at the very young age of 8. Her badminton idol was P. Gopichand and she joined his academy, 56 kilometres away. Her willingness to travel so far for training can be seen as a sign of her grit and determination.

Sindhu has a one-of-a-kind record at the World Championship. She has won five medals over a total of only six appearances! This is the fastest that a player has won so many medals at the World Badminton Championship.

She is also the only Indian singles player to hold an Olympic silver which she won at in 2016. 

 

Lovlina Borgohain – Bronze for Welterweight Boxing

 

Belonging to the tiny Baro Mukhia village of Assam’s Golaghat district, 23-year-old Lovlina became the third Indian boxer to win an Olympic medal.
The young gun has spent the past several years training, away from the comfort of being close to family. Lovlina stayed away from her family for almost eight whole years. She says that not being there when they were going through problems has been a real struggle and her biggest sacrifice. It was only last year during the COVID lockdown that she spent some time with her family, albeit in unfavourable circumstances. While caring from her mother who was recovering from a kidney transplant, Lovina contacted COVID and had to miss out on a vital training camp in Italy.

During the COVID lockdown last year, Lovlina also helped out her father in his paddy fields. This helped her stay in touch with her roots.

The Olympic medallist’s village is around 320 kilometres from Dispur and a mud-and-stone track connected it to other places. However, a lot can be said about Lovlina’s Olympian feat. Just days after her win, her village can now be accessed through a concrete road.

 

Women’s Hockey Team – A Special Mention

 

In the previous innings of the Olympic Games at Rio, the Indian women’s team suffered a great defeat. The fact that they just narrowly missed out on the bronze medal in Tokyo speaks volumes for the kind of hard work they have put in over the last few years. They definitely need to be counted among the inspiring women at the Olympics.

With a fighting spirit and can-do attitude, the team made Olympic history by gaining the fourth position in the event.

Rani Rampal and her team did not have it easy at all. In a culture where hockey is considered a ‘manly’ sport, the girls and their parents often had to deal with ‘what will people say’. A lot of people told their parents that it is inappropriate to have your daughter running around in short skirts. But none of these things made a difference to the hardworking team who are now gearing up for the Paris Olympics in 2024.

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