New Delhi. The athlete who was mocked by the world as ‘over-weight’ or an old-fashioned player, turned those criticisms into praise in just a few magical moments. 19 September 2000, this is the same date when weightlifter Karnam Malleswari won an Olympic medal. She is also the first Indian female athlete to achieve this feat.
Karnam achieved a great milestone by doing this feat in the Sydney 2000 Olympics. In a total of 240 kg, she won the bronze medal by lifting 110 kg in the snatch category and 130 kg in clean and jerk. She then won this medal in the 69 kg category of weightlifting.
She was born in Srikakulam, Andhra Pradesh on 1 June 1975. She started practicing weightlifting at the age of 12 and began to see a career in it.
Malleswari entered the field of sports in 1989, when she was only 14 years old. Slowly she started earning fame. Malleswari broke the world record in the National Games held in Pune. She stood fifth in the World Championship held in Germany. Then she improved her level in the next year’s World Championship held in Bulgaria. In the 1995 World Championship held in China, Malleswari created a new world record in the 54 kg category in ‘jerk’ and won 3 gold medals. Due to her historic achievements, she is famous as ‘The Iron Lady’.
Surprisingly, no one expected her to win a medal in the Olympics. When she was selected, she had to face a lot of criticism. But see the game of fate, India got only one medal in that Olympics, which was won by Karnam Malleswari.
Malleswari was awarded the ‘Arjuna Award’ in 1995. In 1996, she was awarded the ‘Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award’ and in 1997, she was awarded the ‘Padma Shri’. Whatever the platform, the life of this weightlifter, who is determined to ‘win at all costs’, has been an amazing story of struggle and success. Recently, she has become the first Vice Chancellor of Delhi Sports University.
Image Credit: Khas-Khabar.