As a child growing up in Aizawl, Jeremy Lalrinnunga had a couple of 'toys' he was particularly fond of playing with. They were medals - father Lalneihtluanga was an accomplished boxer having won two gold medals at the junior national level. "They were mounted in the wall of our house but me and my brothers would play with them all the time. We would pretend we were champions. In fact we even lost one of his medals while playing," recalls Lalrinnunga.
On Monday night, in the Argentinian city of Buenos Aires, Lalrinnunga got the perfect replacement - a gold medal at the Youth Olympics. On the other side of the world, several timezones away from India, the 15-year-old had created history. Lalrinnunga, who will only turn 16 on the 26th of this month, had lifted 274 kilos (124kg in the snatch and 150kg in the clean and jerk) in the men's 62kg weightlifting competition. His gold at the Youth Olympics was the first by an Indian in the three editions of the quadrennial event.
But while Indians back home were getting used to the unfamiliar name rolling around their mouth, there was little surprise amongst those following the Indian weightlifting scene. "He was always a special boy," says national coach Vijay Sharma who has worked with Lalrinnunga ever since he first arrived in the senior national camp in the summer of 2016.
His prodigious talent was obvious early on. Sharma recalls when he first got a glimpse into the youngster's potential. "When he came for the first time to the camp, we were astounded. One of the earliest tests we do is to check their explosive strength. In Weightlifting, your explosive strength is everything. We measure that with box jumps. Most of the senior campers are able to make jumps on a box that is about as high as their shoulders. Even at 13, Jeremy did a five-foot box jump, nearly as high as his forehead. That was incredible. I'd never seen any young lifter come anywhere close to that," says Sharma from Buenos Aires.
While he was a natural, Olympic lifting wasn't the sport Lalrinnunga was expected to compete in as a child. "My father was a very good boxer. But he got married very early and he wasn't able to continue boxing, so he encouraged me and my brothers (Jeremy is the third of five brothers) to box too," he says.
Boxing didn't last very long once Lalrinnunga got his first taste of lifting weights. "I saw a weightlifting set for the first time when I was six years old. I wanted to do this because I saw all the men were doing it. I also wanted to be like them. I also wanted to lift these heavy weights," he said.
He got his chance soon enough when he was selected after a trial to train at the Army Sports Institute in Pune in 2011. It was a move that changed his life. "I didn't know anything before I came to Pune. I only spoke Mizo. I couldn't even speak to anyone," he says.
While Lalrinnunga is now conversant in Hindi, he best expresses himself under a steel Olympic bar laden with iron weights. Prior to the Youth Olympics, he first got the international weightlifting community's attention with his silver medal in the 56kg category at the 2016 World Youth Championships. Only 13 then, he was the youngest medalist and the second youngest competitor at that competition. He would go on to win another silver at the 2017 World Championships followed by a silver and a bronze at the 2018 Asian Youth Championships.
Coach Sharma says Lalrinnunga has a perspective on the sport that belies his age. "He obviously is god-gifted but what really helps is his complete dedication to the sport. He is a young boy and there are obviously a lot of distractions. But while he is very active on social media (Lalrinnunga has some 3500 followers on his regularly updated Instagram account), he knows how to give priority to his weightlifting. If you tell him to do something, he does it exactly and you don't have to keep making sure he is listening. That's a rare quality at his age," says coach Sharma.
Having moved up a weight division since the Asian Youth Championships in April this year, Lalrinnunga is expected to get even better. At the Youth Olympics, he fell just short of the senior national record in the 62kg category (currently standing at 275kg). A foul attempt in his second snatch attempt at 124kg prevented him from attempting a heavier weight in his third attempt. This was followed by a foul in his second clean and jerk attempt at 147kg. "He should have easily got the national mark," says Sharma. "He was unlucky to get a foul in his second lift in the snatch. We were expecting him to lift 280kg here but it didn't happen today," says Sharma.
Lalrinnunga for his part is satisfied despite having missed out on a record. "I wasn't looking for records or the gold medal. I just wanted to have a good day lifting and I was able to do that," he says.
The records will surely come. Coach Sharma is confident of that. "We will try to prepare him for the Tokyo Olympics but I think if he stays injury free, he will certainly be competing for a medal at the 2024 Games," he says.
All that is still a while away. His competition done, Lalrinnunga has a simpler wish to fulfill. "I just want to see the city now," he says.