Indian weightlifter Karnam Malleswari is the first woman from India to win a medal at the Olympics.
She attained this crowning achievement at the Sydney 2000 Olympics.
Karnam Malleswari became the first Indian woman to win a prestigious Olympic bronze medal, lifting the 110kg and 130kg in the ‘snatch’ and ‘clean and jerk’ categories respectively to total 240kg.
This achievement made her an instant household name as the masses named her ‘The Iron Lady’.
Till date, she remains the only Indian woman weightlifter to have won an Olympic medal.
Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee called her ‘Bharat ki beti’ (daughter of India).
Karnam achieved this feat when she was a 25 year old.
Coming from Andhra Pradesh, Karnam brought a bronze medal for the country in Sydney. Around two decades after this feat was achieved, Malleswari’s bronze is still India’s only Olympic medal in the sport of Weightlifting.
