It's the eve of her 30th birthday. Mirabai Chanu is six lifts away from a second Olympic medal and becoming the greatest Indian weightlifter. The stage is set.
Mirabai wears the same earrings she wore in Tokyo - it's the Olympic rings in gold. She's here to do what she did in Tokyo three years ago - climb that Olympic podium. Three lifts separate her from the medals and it's her stronger lift of the two: the clean and jerk. She has the second-best clean and jerk stats among the 12 lifters.
Strangely, Mirabai begins at a modest weight of 111kg.
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The thing is, it's far below her best of 119kgs. What made it surprising was that she had set herself up perfectly with an 88kg lift in the snatch -- equalling her personal best. If she could do that in the section where she's traditionally weaker, it could only mean that she was feeling good about herself, there should not have been any reason for her to hold back.
Strange, then, that Mirabai -- who has regularly begun the clean and jerk in the 114-115kg range -- started an Olympic final where she was trailing the lead with a 111kg. At the moment, though, a successful lift would have taken her total to 199kg and the third spot, but even that proved to be a tall order.
She gets off the floor very quickly and as she lifts the barbell above her, her left knee buckles, her shoulders wobble and the rod slips out of her hands to fall in front of her. Mirabai stares at her chalked palms in shock: how did that just happen?
She walked off the podium searching for answers. And because she failed that initial lift of 111kg, the coaching staff were reluctant to add more weight. They stuck to the same weight, and that instantly put her at a risk of finishing with a total that was below her potential.
Mirabai was back in less than a minute and completed the lift - successfully this time. There was a slight imbalance as she split her legs into a lunge while hoisting the barbell, but she powered through for the green signal. It wasn't convincing, though.
There was an element of fear: did they want her to go all out in the final attempt? Could Mirabai, who wasn't able to do a single squat in January this year after the hip injury at the Asian Games, push to a weight closer to her best? Her team felt 114kgs in her final attempt would be enough. It was five kilos lower than her best. It would take her total to 202kgs from 199kg -- which is lesser than the 205-207kg marker she had laid for herself. But it would give her a chance for bronze, with Thailand's Surodchana Khambao having hit 200kg with her second lift.
114 kg. Mirabai walks out like a prize fighter of yore at a main event, three muscled men donning India jerseys walking behind her as she closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. The entourage is in full voice, roaring her on. There's a war about to happen: Mirabai vs the barbell and the 114kgs loaded on it. A medal is on the line.
She tightens her belt to the last buckle and goes to attack the barbell. The snatch part of it is clean - she hoists the 114kgs onto her front deltoids and is in a deep squat position. This is it, you think.
As she drives through her legs and extends her arms over her head, her left knee buckles [again], she loses balance and the barbell crashes onto the platform.
Mirabai is stunned and has her head in her palms.
It should have been an easy lift. Especially since it's much lesser than what she is capable of. But her execution and the think tank's strategy on the night was just not good enough - she didn't find her feet, balance or the groove that she typically finds herself in at these big events.
In the end, Mirabai's assessment from a few months ago was right: the Olympic medals were won in the 205-207kg range. China's Hou Zhizhui took gold with 206kgs, Romania's Valentina Cambei grabbed the silver for a total of 205kgs and Khambao pipped Mirabai to the bronze with a total of 200kg.
Mirabai missed out on that second Olympic medal by two kilograms (with Khambao leading on countback, she needed to hit 201kg to beat the Thai). On a day when Vinesh Phogat was denied a medal because of an additional 100 grams, it was another 2000 that separated an Indian from Olympic glory. Such are the margins in elite sport.