New Delhi: Mirabai Chanu is fatigued and frowning. Her recovery hasn’t been great of late, so she is dashing to the sauna post a three-hour training session. It’s tough to stop the Tokyo Olympics silver medallist for an interview, unless one throws in the magic words: ‘Vijay sir’. Chanu’s eyes light up and she claims national weightlifting coach Vijay Sharma means “everything” to her. “Whatever I am today is because of him,” she says, placing herself on the massage table of the training hall at the National Institute of Sports, Patiala.
In a sport that is as much technical as it is physical, the athlete-coach dynamics leave no room for ambiguity. It’s a relationship that demands complete trust from the athlete and a granular understanding of the athlete’s body from the coach. Every gram of weight is thoroughly deliberated, every curve of the spine and stretch of the arm down to the minutest twirl of the wrist are closely monitored. A single misstep may end careers, forget messing up the results.
“People think weightlifting is just about muscle and power,” says Sharma, “Sab bakwaas hai (It’s all rubbish). From deciding how much to lift to how it should be lifted, you need a scientific approach to ensure injury-free peak performance. An athlete needs to trust you, only then will they be able to follow your training plans.”
Sharma’s competition planning begins with a countback and a look at the possible field. The entry weight is carefully decided after a thorough assessment of Chanu’s training progression. “The competition begins three weeks before the event when the entry weight is sent. That’s when the psychological warfare starts,” he says.
During warm-ups and lifts, while Chanu is focussed on her form and processes, Sharma’s mind is racing. He scans the body language and warm-up drills of the competitors for cues, gauges their confidence, assesses Chanu’s readiness, monitors what others are lifting, and decides on her second and third efforts.
“We barely talk during competitions. I look at him and I know what I need to do. Bus nazro se samajh aa jaata hai (Eye contact is enough to know) whether my second throw is weak or my jerk is not coming through,” Chanu says.
“The only time I have to really speak to her during training is to tell her to stop. Rukti nahi hai (She just doesn’t stop),” Sharma adds.
Sharma and Chanu go back exactly ten years to when the former was tasked with handling the Commonwealth Games-bound Indian team. Sharma, just two years into his coaching career, had never worked with female athletes previously.
“It was unfamiliar territory. I was not sure whether my methods would work or whether the girls would trust me. But I was fortunate to get a good bunch that had the desire to work hard.” he recalls. The group included Sanjita Chanu, Mirabai Chanu, Punam Yadav, Santoshi Matsa, and Swati Singh, each of whom returned with a medal from Glasgow. Once back, they requested the authorities if they could train under Sharma.
“Every girl was talented, but I thought Mira and Punam were a little different. Mira was this bubbly, energetic girl, eager to learn. She had this bhookh (hunger); she still does,” says the 53-year-old.
“A lot of athletes are satisfied after a CWG medal because they get good monetary rewards and job security, but the first thing Mira asked me after landing from Glasgow was, how are we going to win in Rio?”
In Rio though, Chanu and Sharma ran into their most spectacular failure. Unable to register a single clean and jerk lift, Chanu bowed out of her maiden Olympics embarrassed and defeated.
His job on the line, Sharma was understandably shaken by the debacle, but Chanu never lost faith. “When I look back, that Rio blow made our relationship stronger,” says Chanu. “I believed in him. I could see his sacrifices and devotion.”
Sharma often turns to Chanu after a rough day. “I speak to her and she just lifts my spirits. Through all her injuries, she kept assuring me that she will come back stronger. I could never see my children grow up since I was always busy working; Mira is like my child,” says Sharma.
He stays in regular touch with Chanu’s family in Manipur and worked as the bridge between the two when the state went through its worst phase of the ongoing ethnic violence.
“I was worried for my people but Vijay sir was in touch with my family and kept passing on any information he received. Even now, he regularly talks to my family,” she says.
While Sharma has never been to Chanu’s place – he promises to be there for her wedding, when it happens – the ace weightlifter has been to coach’s Modinagar residence in Ghaziabad a bunch of times. “We usually stay at my place for a few days before an overseas flight from Delhi. Chanu is quite close to my daughter who sees her as an elder sister,” he says.
During their long camps in St Louis, USA, Chanu occasionally cooks for Sharma who in turn helps with the dishes and chopping vegetables. “I enjoy a meal of dal-chawal the most although Mira does cook a lot of Manipuri delicacies too,” says Sharma.
The duo considers Chanu’s 2017 World Championships win as their greatest success story, for it not only ended India’s 22-year wait for the title, but also announced her comeback post Rio.
“We have had our share of setbacks, but we have always come back stronger,” Sharma says. “There were a lot of nasty things said about me after Rio, and I would take some of them to heart. Mira would tell me, ‘Let them say whatever they want. I trust you, sir.’ She became my biggest strength.”
The crowning glory of their careers arrived in Tokyo when she became only the second Indian weightlifter to win an Olympic medal. The night before her event, not much was said between them. They didn’t need to, after seven years of riding the tide together.
“He just gave me a look of assurance that night that told me all was fine. I slept well knowing that,” Chanu looks back, “I owe my medal to him.”
Sharma reckons that if not for his successful pupil, he’d still be a Railways clerk. “I am a Dronacharya Awardee now, wherever I go, people refer to me as Mira’s coach. I feel immense pride.”
The Paris Olympics is days away and Mirabai – who’s been battling injuries and lacking competitive touch – is not exactly among the hot favourites. “We’ve fallen so many times that now there’s no fear,” says Sharma, “Uski body chali to kuch khaas karegi. (If her body holds up, she might do something special).