The date was 19th September 2000. The place, Sydney Convention and exhibition center. A thing that had not happened in the Asian nations in 100 years of Olympic participation, history was to transpire. History was made.
Yes! 25-year-old Karnam Malleshwari an Indian weightlifter lifted the famous 130 kg weight and won the bronze medal. She became the first Indian woman to ever win an Olympic medal.
Karnam Malleshwari, called the Iron Lady, was born on 1st June 1975 in a small Andhra village, Voosavanipeta in Srikakulam district. She has four sisters, and all are well trained in weightlifting. She s
tarted her career at the age of 12 and was trained under the coach Neelamshetty Appanna. She moved to Delhi with her sister and was soon spotted by the Sports Authority of India. Then in 1990, Malleshwari joined the national camp and four years later, she was a world championship winner in the 54kg class. In 1997, she married a fellow weightlifter Rajesh Tyagi, and in 2001 gave birth to a son, Sharad Chander Tyagi. He is a rising shooter.
So, by the time she prepared for Olympics, she had won 29 International medals of which 11 were gold. Some of Karnam Malleshwari’ s titles are as follows:
Bronze at 1993 Melbourne World Championships (54kg)
Gold at the 1994 Istanbul World Championships(54kg)
Gold at the 1995 Guangzhou World Championships(54kg)
Silver at the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games(63kgs)
National Champion from 1992-1998
In 1999, she received the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, India’s highest sporting honor, Arjuna Award in the year 1994, and the civilian Padmashri award in 1999.
Karnam Malleshwari has retired and currently lives in Yamuna Nagar, Haryana with her husband and works at the Food Corporation of India as the General Manager.
Let us as students take inspiration from Karnam Malleshwari and work hard with perseverance to achieve our goals.
~Aadhya Bhupalam -4 LS
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