Saikhom Mirabai Chanu has become the first Indian to score a medal at the Tokyo Olympics 2020 and as of the morning of July 29, remains the only athlete to do so. And while her achievement at the quadrennial tournament was celebrated in a grand fashion as she came back to India, the pictures from her time at the actual house have gone viral ever since.

She was clicked at her humble abode in Manipur, enjoying a plate of rice and some vegetables, as she sat on a cemented floor, in a tiny room with unpainted walls, wooden shelves that are barely staying upright, and no chairs in sight.

Poverty is never an excuse for achieving one’s dreams. India's most loved Saikhom Mirabai Chanu at her humble home in Manipur after winning Silver Medal in the Tokyo Olympics. pic.twitter.com/dBdIZrUz28

“Poverty is never an excuse for achieving one’s dreams. India's most loved Saikhom Mirabai Chanu at her humble home in Manipur after winning Silver Medal in the Tokyo Olympics,” wrote Rajat Sethi, an advisor to the Manipur Chief Minister.

The weightlifter is known for commanding exceptional strength ever since she was a child. At the age of 12, she would carry a massive bundle of firewood back home while her older brother would struggle to even pick it up.

She has seen a lot of failures in her life. Her Rio Olympics 2016 journey was an absolute disaster after she was unable to complete her lift three times in a row and was therefore knocked out of the tournament by default.

However, her breakthrough had come two years before Rio and at the Commonwealth Games at Glasgow, when she won the silver medal in the 48kg weight category. It would be four years since that moment that she would finally be able to turn that Commonwealth silver into gold, this time at Gold Coast, 2018 when she lifted an impressive 196 kg, 86 kg in Snatch and 110 kg in Clean and Jerk.

Never to eat a single slice of pizza her entire life, Mirabai finally achieved that dream as well when she came back after winning the Olympics silver and met with the former Sports Minister and the current Law minister of the country, Kiren Rijiju. 

Most satisfying moment!
"I'll come back with medal for India" Mirabai said this before leaving for Japan to represent India @ Olympics #Tokyo2020 #Cheer4India https://t.co/LrGOivcAkc pic.twitter.com/onwmI2A950

“Most satisfying moment! "I'll come back with medal for India" Mirabai said this before leaving for Japan to represent India @ Olympics #Tokyo2020 #Cheer4India,” Rijiju wrote on Twitter.

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