Olympic Weightlifter Credits Mom's 4 Words for Gold Win

When Olympic weightlifter Mirabai Chanu won her third Commonwealth Games gold medal in Glasgow, the first person she thought of wasn't her coach or her rivals. It was her mother, whose four simple words had echoed through every training session and competition: "Yes, you can do it."

Moments after winning the women's 48kg weightlifting event, Chanu spoke with tears in her eyes about the voice that kept her going. "It's by listening to her words that I have reached this point today," she told reporters.

The faith between mother and daughter runs both ways. Before the competition, Chanu called home to seek her mother's blessing, something she does before every major event.

"I was confident that she would win, and she did," her mother, Saikhom Tombi Leima, told reporters after the victory. Her daughter called again hours later with news of the gold medal, the third time Leima had felt this particular joy.

But the story of this mother's belief began long before any medals existed. Growing up in Nongpok Kakching village in Manipur, young Mirabai would join her older brother to collect firewood from nearby hills.

While her brother struggled with large bundles, his younger sister carried heavier loads with surprising ease. Most families might have dismissed this as a curious detail, but Leima recognized something special.

"That's how my mother realised that I have an innate strength and suggested I take up weightlifting," Chanu later recalled. What could have remained a family anecdote became the first step toward discovering one of India's greatest athletes.

Instead of viewing her daughter's physical strength as unusual or inappropriate for a young girl, Leima encouraged it. That decision quietly changed the course of Indian sporting history.

Sunny's Take

This story reminds us that sometimes the most powerful coaching happens outside the gym. Leima didn't need a sports science degree to recognize her daughter's potential or the right words to unlock it.

Her consistent message of "Yes, you can do it" wasn't empty encouragement. It was rooted in years of observation, starting with a little girl effortlessly carrying firewood up a hill.

Now, when Chanu stands on podiums representing India on the world's biggest stages, those four words still matter most. "I have fulfilled my promise given to my mother," she wrote after her Glasgow victory.

The promise has been kept, but the voice continues.