At the Sydney Games in 2000, Karnam Malleswari became the first woman from India to win an Olympic medal, taking the bronze in the women’s weightlifting. 2000 was the first year women’s weightlifting was included as an Olympic sport.
Born in a small village in India in 1979, Malleswari began weightlifting at age 12. After winning the bronze in Sydney she became known as “the iron girl of Andhra Pradesh.”
Most of India’s Olympic medals have been in men’s field hockey. Today, Malleswari is still the only woman in India to have won an Olympic medal.
