Away from the spotlight owing to an injury-plagued buildup, Mirabai Chanu will be in focus on Wednesday when she attempts to become India's first weightlifter to win two Olympic medals but a challenging field and lingering fitness concerns stand in the way.
The lifter, who opened India's tally on the first day of the competition at the Tokyo Olympics with a sparkling silver, has kept a low profile since suffering hip tendonitis during the Asian Games last October.
Chanu has endured a rather underwhelming Olympic cycle thanks to injury and workload management.
Her best effort since Tokyo came at the 2022 Commonwealth Games where she lifted 201kg (88kg+113kg). She had won the silver in Tokyo by heaving 202kg (87kg+115kg).
Competing in her pet 49kg weight category, Chanu is likely to be in the scramble for a silver or bronze if she matches or betters her personal best in both sections.
Reigning Olympic champion China's Hou Zhihui is the favourite to defend her title.
While there are still murmurs surrounding her fitness after she returned from a five month hiatus following the hip injury, both Chanu and chief national coach Vijay Sharma have asserted that the Manipuri has completely recovered.
"We know that Mira has to go well beyond the 200kg mark. 202kg will not cut it this time but somewhere around 205-206kg should do it. But we are prepared for the challenge," coach Sharma told PTI.
However, this is easier said than done, as the 29-year-old has struggled to surpass her personal best of 88kg in the snatch, set at the 2020 National Championships, and 119kg in clean and jerk, achieved at the 2021 Asian Championships, for quite a while.
While Chanu, who turns 30 on Thursday, will have one eye on her competitors' barbells, the Manipuri's main battle will be with herself at the South Paris Arena.
Her performance in the snatch section continues to be her achilles heal and her mediocre clean and jerk performance recently also doesn't inspire confidence.
While a 90kg snatch lift continues to elude Chanu, four of her competitors have breached the coveted mark.
Having said that, Chanu has been known to be a fighter and one of the most tenacious athletes in the country.
Be it battling intense menstrual camps to win a medal in Tokyo or attempting a 117kg clean and jerk lift despite injuring herself during the Asian Games, she has shown her resolute side.
Despite the absence of North Korea's Asian Games champion and world record holder Ri Song Gum, the 49kg event is a highly competitive contest.
Chanu has set an entry weight of 200kg alongside two others -- USA's three-time Pan American champion and a world bronze medallist Jourdan Delacruz and 2021 world champion Surodchana Khambao of Thailand.
Zhihui and two-time European champion Romanian Mihaela Cambei have set entry weights of 210kg and 205kg respectively.
Chanu has been training in Paris for a month.
She also got help from American Dr Aaron Horschig, a former weightlifter-turned-physical therapist and strength and conditioning coach, who has been working with Chanu since 2020.
