Karnam Malleswari

MedalTop

Karnam Malleswari (born June 11975, Srikakulam, Andhra Pradesh) is an Indian Weightlifter. She won a bronze medal in the 2000 Summer Olympics at Sydney, which made her the first Indian woman to win an Olympic medal. She is a recipient of the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, India's highest sporting honour for the year 1995-1996. She is also a recipient of the civilian honour Padma Shri in 1999.Malleswari is awarded the Arjuna Award in 1994, India's highest award in sports.

In 1995, Malleswari won the world weightlifting title in her class (54 kg) with a new record, by lifting 113.0 kg in the clean and jerk. Malleswari, who went on to win the contest's gold medal, beat the previous record of 112.5 kg set by China's Long Yuling in December 1993. She also won the 1995 Asian championship. She broke her own records in the Senior National Weightlifting Championship in 1997, and India's first medal, a weightlifting silver, in the 1998 Asian Games.

Malleswari was married in 1997 and took a break from competitive weightlifting, to return in 1998 for the Bangkok Asian Games. However, she struggled with her weight thereafter, and was unable to win a medal at the 1999 Athens World Weightlifting championships.

There was contention over the choice of weightlifters for India's Olympic team. With three contestants and two spots, there was criticism when Kunjarani Devi was left out. However, Malleswari's bronze validates her selection.

A quote

"People keep asking me why India does not win more medals. It is all easy to talk about this sitting at big desks in air-conditioned rooms. But winning medals is not easy. We go into the field. We get injured. We can't sleep because of the pain. And then ... "

Further reading

"India’s 50 Most Illustrious Women" (ISBN 81-88086-19-3) by Indra Gupta

External links

* [http://www.athens2004.com/en/WeightliftingParticipants/newParticipants?pid=9004256&biotype=Athletes&rsc=WL0000000 Bio at the Athens2004 website]