Let’s look at the journey of Karnam Malleswari

Personal Life

Karnam Malleswari was born in Punjab. Ever since she was 12 years old, she got into weightlifting and her early coach was Neelamshetty Appanna. The natural talent that Karnam Malleswari had was recognised by the Sports Authority of India. She trained for 4 years and she was the 54 KG World Champion. Karnam Malleshwari retired after she failed to get a score at the 2004 Athens Olympics. She currently lives with her family in Yamunanagar which is in Haryana and she works at the Food Corporation of India as the Chief General manager of General Administration.

Weightlifting Career

Karnam Malleswari was preparing hard for the medal as she had already done very well in various World Championships. She was 3rd at the 1993 World Championship and then in 1994 she was the World Champion. She repeated her success in 1995 and she once again finished 3rd in 1996. She established herself as the best in the world. In the year 1995, Karnam Malleswari also won the Asian Weightlifting Championship. Before her Sydney Olympics Medal, she had already won 29 Medals and 11 of those were Gold Medals.

It was the 2000 Olympics and she was the favourite for the Gold Medal. She lifted 110 KG in the Snatch category and another 130 KG in the Clean and Jerk category of the event. She lifted a total of 240 KG and won a historic bronze medal for India. Her medal was the sole medal for India at the 2000 Olympics.

Honors and Achievements

• Karnam Malleswari was awarded the Arjuna Award in the year 1994.

• She won the then Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award in the year 1998

• Karnam Malleswari was awarded the Padma Shri in 1999

• She won the 1994 and 1995 World Championship Gold Medal in the 54 KG category