Mc Mary Kom wins bronze
The boxer made history for India even before she participated in the actual Olympic Games. The only woman in Indian history to qualify for Olympic boxing, Mary was the daughter of Manipuri field workers who practiced the state’s slash-and-burn agriculture for a living.
She began training for the Olympics very early in her teens, and with 2012 the first year women’s boxing was a part of the Olympics, Mary qualified.
Not only was her road to the Olympic Games a difficult one, the boxer had a harrowing experience at the games after her equipment was stolen. Despite this, and being forced to travel to the Olympics without her coach, Mary overcame the odds to win bronze at the event.
She described the “love the country gave me” as immense.