New Delhi: On Monday, as the Indian contingent was busy showing off their gold medals at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games thanks to a record haul from the boxers, a significant change had quietly taken effect in weightlifting. The new Olympic weight classes for the sport came into practice on August 1, meaning the familiar sight of Mirabai Chanu stepping up in the 48-49kg division will soon be a thing of the past.
The 2028 Los Angeles Olympics will feature six weight divisions each in men and women. The new divisions for men are 65kg, 75kg, 85kg, 95kg, 110kg and +110kg. Women will compete in 53kg, 61kg, 69kg, 77kg, 86kg and +86kg.
The women’s 53kg event was last part of the Olympics in Rio (2016).
Although Mirabai will gun for that elusive Asian Games medal in Japan in her preferred 49kg in less than two months, she will move to 53kg thereafter where Gyaneshwari Yadav, who won silver in that category in Glasgow with a national record lift of 199kg, will be waiting. Joining them will be Bindiyarani Devi, who will move down from 58kg, where she took bronze lifting 199kg at the CWG.
Bindiyarani has a choice to step up to 61kg, but national coach Vijay Sharma deems it best for her to drop weight.
“Ideally, we should have a pool of 5-6 lifters in each weight class to keep them on their toes, but for now, we’ll have Mira, Gyaneshwari and Bindiyarani having a go at each other in 53kg,” Sharma said.
Theoretically, Gyaneshwari is best placed in 53kg considering that it’s her natural weight division. Besides the CWG silver, the 23-year-old from Chhattisgarh bagged an Asian Championships silver (2026) in that weight class. Crucially, she won’t have to tinker with her bodyweight. Bindiyarani, who competes in 55kg and 58kg divisions, will have to cut down 6-7kg of her maintenance weight to qualify for the lightest Olympic weight.
“Mira has been competing in 48kg or 49kg for 12-13 years now and we were feeling the need to go to a higher weight. I don’t think she’ll have much trouble moving up to 53kg. In fact, it will work to her advantage,” Sharma said.
With a maintenance weight of 50.5kg, Mirabai had a tough time making weight in Glasgow where she competed in 48kg.
For two days leading up to her event, Mirabai survived on one meal a day. “I had just one meal for two days. I would have cornflakes and eggs at breakfast and forget about eating the rest of the day. A day before my event, I even cut down my water intake,” she said.
She dropped 600gm the next day to reach 49.500kgs. Needing to cut another 1.5kg in a day, she trained on an empty stomach and completely gave up drinking water. By the time she stepped on the scale two hours before her lift, her exhausted and famished body weighed 47.500kg.
“You barely get time to eat after the weigh-in. Take out 30 minutes for warm-up, and you have just about an hour to refuel. She usually has some banana or a small, boiled potato to get energy. We also give her some honey for instant recovery. You can’t stuff yourself before lifting,” Sharma said.
Excruciating as it is, it is an occupational hazard that lifters live with.
“There’s a great risk of injury when you have to torture your body to such an extent. I am happy for Mira. She’ll be in a better position mentally and physically at LA,” two-time CWG medallist-turned coach Sathish Sivalingam said.
“Look at her training age and the volume of training her muscles have had over the past 15-odd years. She will adjust quickly, although she’ll have to start lifting 200kg more often,” he said.
Mirabai’s training will also have to be reviewed in consultation with strength and training experts. Sharma predicted a timeline of 6-8 months to get the 31-year-old to the desired muscle mass.
“We’ll start bulking up after the Asian Games. There’s a lot of science to it and we hope to hit the target weight in 6-8 months post the Asiad,” Sharma said. That said, unlike in 49kg where her qualification was never in doubt for Tokyo and Paris Olympics, simply making the cut for LA in 53kg will push Mirabai to her limit.
“Remember, there will be the Chinese and Koreans who get better as the weight category goes up. She’ll have to compete in a bunch of Asian and World Championships to earn her place, and it won’t be easy,” Sivalingam said.
At home, a relaxed Mirabai will offer a stiff test to younger challengers. While Gyaneshwari has been steadily going up the ranks, Bindiyarani will have her task cut out.
“I am not very impressed with Bindiya’s total at CWG (199kg), which is not great for the 58kg division. She’ll have to lift as much, if not a little more, with reduced muscle mass in 53kg, which won’t be a cakewalk,” Sathish said.
